Forces from the Past Influence the Future
by Arran2000
Summary: A long lost god and goddess from Greece's past read the PJO books with the Olympians. Who are they? Read to find out. AU. Story is better then the summary.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or any characters.

This happens when Percy and Annabeth are about five years old.

The Olympians were gathered on Olympians for the annual summer solstice council meeting. Everyone present was in heated conversation when suddenly a bright light began to shine in the middle of the throne room. After a few seconds, there stood a figure with a backpack slung over his shoulder. Everybody recognized him immediately, but they still couldn't believe it was him. He had not been seen or heard from in at least several thousands of years. He had a youthful appearance, with no beard and blond hair. In that sense he seemed like a teenager, like Apollo. He wore purple robes with golden sandals and a gold sash wrapped around his waist. He wore the brightest smile anyone had ever seen from ear to ear.

"Hi, guys! Miss me?" he asked.

"Helios?" Aphrodite asked shocked. "Is that really you?"

"Yep it is honey." The same grin was still on his face.

At that instant, all the gods and goddesses started talking at once.

"Hey buddy!" Apollo and Hermes exclaimed at the same time, running up to hug and high-five him.

"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO MY GIRL LIKE THAT? I'LL KILL YOU!" Ares bellowed.

"I've got an anvil we can pound him against!" Hephaestus told him.

"Where the Hades have you BEEN?" Athena, Demeter, Hera and Aphrodite screamed.

"Hey, stop that!"

_Oh, Hades. Hehe _Helios thought to himself.

Hestia just left the fireplace to hug him tightly.

Even though he kind of enjoyed the attention he was getting, Helios brought the commotion to order.

"HEYYY!" he called out.

"I guess that answers my question."

For the first time, Zeus and Poseidon spoke up.

"Just what exactly are you doing here and where have you been?" Zeus asked.

"I must concur with my _little_ brother, here. I am curious." Poseidon said mock-sagely.

Zeus fumed.

Helios answered them. "I'll answer everybody's questions in exchange for something."

"What?" Hades asked irritated.

"The Fates came to me, and told me to read these books with you." He emptied the backpack and took out five books.

"_Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth_, and _The Last Olympian_."

Poseidon couldn't believe this, but kept silent.

_It couldn't be….._

"Books? Boring! C'mon Helios, you can do better than that!" Apollo commented.

"I know, old friend. But I can't just ignore the Fates."

"And neither can we." Athena said.

Everyone agreed at this.

"So how about we make a deal? If you all read with me, I'll spill the beans on where I've been and what I've been doing.

Alright. We swear on the River Styx." Everyone said.

"Ok, good!" Helios clapped his hands once. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will." Hera said.

He handed her the first book.


	2. Chapter 1 1 of book

**I don't own PJO. I hope you liked the first chapter! **Please** review since this is my first fic! Please tell me what you think. Rated T just to be safe.**

"Wait!" Hades stated. "Neither Artemis nor Dionysus is here yet. We had just started when you got here."

"Oh yeah! I wondered where they were. Artemis is out hunting, I presume?" Helios asked.

"Correct. Late as usual."

"And Dionysus is out getting drunk?"

Thunder rolled across the sky. "HE BETTER NOT BE!" Zeus bellowed.

"I heard something about you 'grounding' him, hehe."

Hermes chimed in. "Yep. Just think, the god of wine can't have any wine."

"That's messed up." Helios and Apollo said in unison. Then they looked at each other and started laughing hysterically.

"How's Rhode?" Aphrodite asked.

"She's well. Beautiful, as always."

"You'd best hope you stay in love with her, and not MY wife, or else you'll meet my two best friends. Their names are Hammer and Anvil!" Hephaestus warned through gritted teeth.

Smiling broadly, Helios responded "I don't believe I've met those two gentlemen."

Everyone except Ares and Hephaestus was laughing so hard some of them fell off their thrones.

Just then, Artemis and Dionysus appeared out of nowhere.

"Hi guys!" Helios waved excitedly.

"OH GODS NO!" Artemis looked at him in shock.

"HOLY CRAP!" Dionysus exclaimed.

"Hey Dionysus, you want some of the bubbly?" Helios asked jokingly.

"SHUT UP!" Dionysus covered his ears childishly.

This just made everyone including Helios laugh so hard they clutched their sides. When they got to their senses, the former Sun god spoke up.

"I was thinking of Rhode, Zeus, I was wondering if I could summon her here to read with us?"

Everyone seemed excited at this and Zeus agreed.

"Hey! If Rhode can come, let Persephone come too!" Hades stated.

"Yes brother, please?" Demeter pleaded.

"Alright, Alright! She can come up here too!" Zeus said annoyed.

Hades looked rather pleased with himself. Helios made two thrones appear. Both were cushioned with red pillows while the structures were made of the purest gold. He sat down in one. A few seconds later, a bright light glowed in the room just as blue flames shot up from the fireplace. Rhode smiled sweetly at everyone while Persephone stepped forward and did the same. Everyone reacted pretty much the same way with Rhode as they had with Helios. Everyone pelted her with questions all at once.

"How have you been?" Dionysus asked.

"How do you put up with that moron?" Artemis asked, pointing to her husband.

"He may be a moron, but he's MY moron." She responded. Rhode gave her husband a quick kiss and settled down beside him.

"Hi, honey!" Persephone hugged her husband tightly and he smiled at Demeter wickedly. She barely contained her anger.

_How could my daughter have actually fallen in love with that…thing, even if it did take almost one-thousand years?_

They settled next to each other.

"So, what are we doing?" Dionysus asked finally.

Helios answered, "The Fates came and told me to read these five books with you guys and gals." His signature smile beamed again.

"About what?" Artemis asked.

"Some kid named Percy Jackson." Zeus answered.

_He's not just some random kid…_ Poseidon thought to himself.

"OH NO! Not one of those stupid brats I have to deal with!" Dionysus glared at Zeus.

"Oh yes, son. That's exactly who it is, hehe." Zeus shot back.

"Alright fine. Let's get this over with."

"Hera, if you would be so kind." Rhode said.

She answered, "Alright, the first chapter is called **I Accidently Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher**."

"What kind of title is that?" Artemis asked.

"The title of the book's first chapter," Helios replied sarcastically.

He high-fived Apollo while Artemis just glared at them.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Nobody ever does child," Athena said.

"I certainly don't want you to be one!" Dionysus exclaimed.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

All the Olympians hung their heads at that. They knew that reality all too well.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"Oooh who?" Apollo said excitedly.

"You really don't know that?" Hera asked annoyed.

"It was for dramatic effect," Apollo said, hurt.

"That is his strong point, after all," Rhode said, trying to comfort him.

"Yeah, you're the best, bud." Helios agreed.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"Ok we won't say it," Ares mocked.

"Shut up!" Poseidon shot.

They all stared at him. _What was his problem?_

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"I thought it was James!" Hermes said laughing. Helios, Rhode, and Apollo joined in.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Most demigod children are," Athena commented.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"I can't believe he would agree to that," Hestia said.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"That sounds interesting!"

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

Athena fumed while everyone else laughed.

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

"Who?"

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"That seems like Chiron," Zeus observed.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Well, that's good, at least," Athena stated.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy, was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"I like this kid already," Ares said laughing evilly.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"OH YEAH!" Ares pumped his fists in the air.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"Awww, CRAP!" Everyone laughed, some were clutching their sides.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Oh that is DISGUSTING!" Demeter, Persephone and Rhode exclaimed. Hestia gagged.

All the males made faces.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"That sure does sound like Grover the satyr," Hera said.

"Yeah, it does," Zeus agreed.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Yep, that's him, always endangering his cover!" Hephaestus commented.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Honestly, that girl is disgusting!"

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!" Ares chanted.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Damn you satyr!" Ares screamed.

"Hey! I believe that's my job!" Hades said annoyed.

That whole time, Helios had been laughing his butt off. Those last two comments made him fall out of his throne.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"So it would seem," Dionysus said.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Believe me sport, it's been there longer than that," Helios told the book.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"That Mrs. Dobbs sounds like a mean chick," Helios commented.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"Darling, doesn't that seem like Alecto?" Persephone asked.

"You know what honey, you're right." Hades responded.

Everyone wondered at this.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Helios, Apollo and Hermes laughed hysterically at that.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"OH MY GODS! That satyr is so stupid!" Athena exclaimed.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

"BUSTED!" Hermes called out.

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

**"god?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

Everyone except Athena, Hestia, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus laughed at that.

"HE….WISHES!" Apollo managed to get out between gasps.

"I didn't know a mortal could be so dense!" Athena screamed irritated.

"How dare he?" Zeus exclaimed.

"I should be the king god!" Hades muttered.

"Let's kill him!" Ares cheered.

"NO!" Poseidon and Helios called out in unison.

"Everyone calm down or my husband will curse you all with sunburn!" Rhode snapped.

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"DAMN RIGHT!" Zeus cheered.

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted," Hermes muttered.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"No, dear, those are centaur ears," Hestia corrected the book.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Oh, Chiron, Chiron, Chiron."

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"Boys are always idiots. They can't help it," Artemis mocked.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"They have."

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"Stupid idiot child," Athena exclaimed.

Poseidon tried as hard as he could to keep silent.

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"Just to help you, child," Poseidon said softly.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"Knowledge! It burns! AHHHHH!" Apollo joked.

Athena gave him her death-glare.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.**

Everyone stared at Zeus who began to whistle.

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Are you two fighting again?"

"I guess so," Zeus and Poseidon said in unison.

"Gosh, what is it this time?" Rhode asked Zeus and Poseidon, puzzled. Helios just patted her hand.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"That's a lovely thought," Hestia muttered irritated.

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone laughed so hard they fell off their thrones.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.**

Poseidon began to think about Sally….

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Awwww…..WIMP!" Ares mocked. That earned him a pinch on the arm from Aphrodite.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

I really hate that girl," Aphrodite said through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry, I've got some surprises for her," Hades smiled evilly.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had** **spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?" Zeus and Hades turned on Poseidon.

"I fathered a child! And it was WORTH IT!" Poseidon screamed.

Helios, Apollo and Hermes all cheered. Rhode and Aphrodite just laughed hysterically.

"That's not exactly what I meant," Poseidon said embarrassed.

"I have a baby brother!" Rhode cheered and hugged her father.

Poseidon smiled broadly and hugged his daughter in return.

"Let's continue this later."

"This isn't over, brother!"

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—""I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"DUH!"

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**Grover looked at me desperately. I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Cuz she's weird." Hermes said.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

"That's good. Always be on your guard," Poseidon told his book-son.

"Or Alecto will get you!" Hermes joked.

Poseidon glared at him.

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Chiron seems to be losing it," Hestia commented.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

"Uh oh."

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Poseidon sank in his throne. _No_

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"With what?" Dionysus asked.

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"SWEET!" Helios cheered.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Oh the horror!" Helios mocked.

Athena glared at him.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

"OH CRAP!"

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's** **bronze sword, which he always used on tournament**

**day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

"This child really is yours, Poseidon! He even thinks like you!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Isn't it wonderful?" he laughed.

Everyone just rolled their eyes.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"Percy 1, Alecto zip!" Helios said sarcastically.

Hades just fumed.

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

Everyone except Poseidon laughed at that.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?"

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing **with** me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"What is wrong with you, Zeus," Persephone asked.

"Everything," Hades and Poseidon said in unison.

Zeus just fumed while everyone else laughed.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"That's the end of the chapter," Hera said.

"Who wants to read next?" Helios asked.

I'll go ahead and get my turn over with," Dionysus said sulkily.

Hera handed him the book and he started to read.

**I'm really sorry this chapter took so long. The other chapters shouldn't take so long.**

**Please keep the reviews coming! **


	3. Chapter 2

**I don't own PJO.**

**I'm sorry guys, but until further notice, I'll only have maybe three days a week to work on this. So if the updates aren't as often as you hope, I'm really sorry! "tears" Just a heads up.**

"**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death," **Dionysus read.

"That sounds terrible," Hestia said.

"That sounds oddly familiar," Hades stated.

"What do you mean?" Ares asked, scratching his head.

"It couldn't be…the Fates?" Athena wondered.

"They better not be the Fates, or a certain brother of mine is going to get it," Poseidon threatened creepily.

Hades shuddered and sank in his throne.

"I wouldn't mind at all if he dies. He's not supposed to be alive anyway," Zeus muttered.

"For once I agree with my husband," Hera agreed.

Poseidon glared at them both.

"You people seem to have gotten crueler since we left," Rhode said. Helios held her hand and nodded sadly.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. **

"It isn't over yet honey," Aphrodite told the book.

**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas. **

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"You probably are psycho!" Apollo joked.

"The kid who sees demon teachers!" Hermes added. He said that as if he was telling a ghost story.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed. **

**Almost. **

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Of course he can tell he's lying. Satyrs are such terrible liars," Dionysus spat.

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Honestly, what is your problem?" Rhode asked irritated.

"Again Rhode, we don't know!" Poseidon responded.

"Don't worry honey," Helios reassured his wife. "It's probably just that time of the year for them."

This caused everyone except for Zeus and Poseidon to laugh so hard they fell off their thrones.

"Why don't you guys take any…medication?" Apollo said laughing.

"Why don't I fry you to a crisp?" Zeus mocked with his bolt raised, ready to strike.

"Ok ok, take it easy," Apollo whimpered.

"That's right," Poseidon muttered.

The brothers bumped fists.

Helios and Rhode just laughed at that.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from D's to F's.**

"Just like Fish Face over there," Athena mocked.

"Shut up," Poseidon said.

"Make me,"

At that, Poseidon lunged after Athena and started strangling her. Ares, Helios, Hermes and Apollo just cheered them on. However, Zeus, Hades and Hephaestus had to ruin all the fun and pulled Poseidon off his niece.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. **

"COOL!" Ares called out.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. **

**I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

Laughter filled the throne room.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick. I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Poseidon growled. _That drunken, insufferable…_

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange.**

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"Awww," Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter, Rhode, and Persephone cooed.

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him. The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. **

"Poseidon, your son is-"

"A demigod just like your children are. He doesn't do well in school," he answered.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"Tell me about it," Helios said, smiling.

Athena just rolled her eyes.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson**_**. I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. **

"Maybe that's why you're failing," Athena snapped.

She was instantly soaked in water.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,"... worried about Percy, sir."**

**I froze.**

"Uh-oh"

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"I'd lose," Helios admitted. Several others agreed, including his wife.

"It's ok darling," she said, laying her head on his shoulder. He just smiled broadly.

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead line— "**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he saw her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again."**

"Again? When did he fail the first time?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know," Hephaestus answered.

**Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

"Chiron's so nice," Aphrodite and Hestia said smiling.

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

"Aww c'mon, man! Never make a sound when spying!" Hermes said.

Apollo and Helios agreed.

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. **

"He should know better than to have that in a school!" Artemis exclaimed.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on. A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"They can do that anyway."

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"It's better if you don't. Then you're just in denial.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung.**

"What a wuss," Ares commented. Aphrodite pinched his arm.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

"Good talk Chiron," Hermes said sarcastically. Helios just shook his head.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

Poseidon pouted. "I'm not a nobody," he quietly said.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city. **

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. **

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

Everyone howled with laughter. They thought that would give the satyr a heart attack.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"**

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Yes he is."

**His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. **

**"Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer." **

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

"Why is it in fancy script?" Artemis asked Dionysus. "You know they can't read it."

"The thought of them trying to read it is funny though," Dionysus chuckled.

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Ouch."

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him. All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

"EEEWWW!" All the goddesses gagged while the gods made faces.

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"It can't be…" Poseidon began to tremble.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

"OH SHIT!" Poseidon gasped for breath, rocking back and forth on his throne.

Everyone was sweating at that point. Even Athena started to worry about that child.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears.**

**I heard Grover catch his breath."We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

"GET ON THE DAMN BUS!" Poseidon screamed.

"Yes child! For once your father has a good idea!" Athena agreed.

**"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**

Poseidon threatened Hades between gasps. "If my—son dies—I will—throw you—into Tartarus—myself."

Hades whimpered while Persephone held his hand.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla. At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering."Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

"Lots of things that would make you act the way your father is right now," Helios said smiling.

Apollo and Hermes chuckled.

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. **

"They are."

**He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could."Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"That's the end of the chapter, finally," Dionysus grumbled.

Poseidon was still hyperventilating. Hestia, Rhode and Persephone were trying to calm him down.

"Who would like to read next?" Helios asked.

"I will," Aphrodite answered.

Dionysus tossed her the book as Poseidon was finally back to normal.

**Note: Again guys, I am really about the delays. I honestly feel bad. But I honestly really do appreciate everybody who reviews and will support me. I fully intend to do all five books, I just need time. Please don't stop reading or reviewing! Review and let me know if you would like me to do the Heroes of Olympus books as well. Again, thanks for reviewing and keep 'em coming, PLEASE?**

**On a lighter note, who else knew that Poseidon was Helios's father in-law? LOL I thought that was pretty neat to find out. Hey if anyone wants to know more about Greek Mythology, I found a great site: .com, its basically an encyclopedia for Greek myths, gods and goddesses, Titans, etc. Please let me know if this info helps and what you think of the site if you visit it.**

**Thank you!**


	4. Chapter 3

**I don't own PJO. Sorry about the mix-up guys! The site is www. Theoi .com (without the spaces). If anyone is interested, please visit the site and let me know what you think. Also, what do you think of Helios? Rhode? What do you think of their personalities? Do I need to change anything? Please review and let me know. As always, reviews are appreciated! Thank you!**

"**Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants**," Aphrodite read.

"EWWW!" All the goddesses screamed.

Several gods gagged.

"That satyr is messed up in the head," Apollo said, making a face.

"What's really bad is, I have to deal with him every day," Dionysus exclaimed.

"Ok, umm…let's just see where this goes," Helios suggested. "Maybe there's an explanation later on."

"There had damn well better be!" Artemis and Hera exclaimed.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"Duh. We already had that figured out," Hermes said.

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

"We don't know," Helios joked.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

Poseidon began to smile.

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"Huh?"

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program.**

Athena was bewildered. "I don't get it, Poseidon."

"What?"

"How this mortal could be interested in you," she said.

"She has good taste," he responded.

Athena just rolled her eyes.

**Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

"Apparently, this woman is right up your alley, Athena," Helios said.

"I swear to you, Sally Jackson, you WILL get an education!" Athena promised.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

"Awww. Isn't that adorable?" Aphrodite, Persephone and Rhode cooed

Hera just fumed.

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. **

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"That's right," Poseidon whispered.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,**

**who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

Everybody started laughing.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

All the goddesses gagged.

"That is not a home!" Hestia said angrily.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

"That's it?" Demeter asked shocked.

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"I wish I had never consented to that marriage!" Hera screamed.

**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"What do you think, Aphrodite?" Persephone asked.

"GODS NO! That is not hansome, that is SICK!" she shouted.

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Poseidon bellowed.

He turned to his brother and said, "Hades, when this…_thing_ dies, I want him to be in more pain and agony than can even be IMAGINED!"

"Oh don't even worry about him, brother," said Hades.

"I'm one step ahead of you. I will make this pitiful excuse for a creature wish that he had never been born!"

Persephone nodded sternly in agreement.

Poseidon began to calm down.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

"Believe me kid, you aren't the only one," Helios told the book.

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

Several gods and goddesses gagged.

"Even I don't agree with that. Such a waste of good beer!" Dionysus whined.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

Everyone shuddered at that.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted. My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**

"Awww, that's adorable!" Persephone, Rhode, Aphrodite and Hestia cooed.

**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.**

**I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"I WANT CANDY!" Apollo and Hermes called out.

Helios then joined them in singing that "I Want Candy" song.

"SHUT UP you idiots!" Artemis shouted, annoyed.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

"LAME!" Ares mocked.

All the goddesses glared at him.

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**

Everyone grumbled.

They really hated that guy.

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"A god sounds better than a millionare," Rhode said smiling to her father.

Poseidon smiled in return.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.**

**I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

"LIAR!" Helios joked.

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

"HE HAD DAMN WELL BETTER!" Poseidon threatened.

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

Even Zeus was fuming at the way this woman was treated.

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game." Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"DO IT!" Everyone cheered. They then laughed for sounding like Ares.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad. Why did she put up with this guy? **

**I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

"I dare you to scratch it!" cried Zeus.

Everyone stared at him.

"What? The guy's a jackass. He deserves it," he defended.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. **

Everyone laughed so hard they clutched their sides.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders**

"SPIDERS!" Athena screamed.

Helios then disappeared.

Everyone was looking for him when a spider came down from the ceiling, right in front of Athena's face.

Athena screamed louder than anyone had ever heard her before.

They all looked up and saw Helios laughing his head off up on a ledge. When he came down, he said while still laughing, "I think I just made myself an enemy."

Then everyone but Athena howled with laughter.

**in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

**I loved the place.**

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Yeah! There you go Uncle!" Ares pumped his fist in the air.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

"I am proud, son," Poseidon told the book.

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"Oh c'mon! There are more important things!" Helios stated.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**

**I felt angry at my father. **

Poseidon just hung his head.

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Poseidon glared at Zeus.

"It's your fault!"

"Don't even start!" Zeus replied.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

Everyone was in shock.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"Dad, why did you send a Cyclops after him?" Rhode asked.

"To help protect him," Poseidon replied.

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"HOLY CRAP!" Even Ares was impressed with that.

"I know, I know. My son is awesome," Poseidon said smiling.

Everyone but Helios, Hermes and Apollo rolled their eyes.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

Artemis and Athena rolled their eyes.

Poseidon glared at them both.

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

"Not a school…"

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

"What could that voice be?" Hephaestus asked.

"It's not me, so don't even start," Hades snapped.

"Why not? You're the one with the most to gain if they fight!" Hephaestus shot back.

"Yeah!" Zeus agreed.

His master bolt formed in his hands.

Persephone threw herself between them.

"STOP!" Hestia screamed.

Both Helios and Rhode stood up and placed themselves between the ruler of the gods and the king of the Underworld.

"Listen to me! This takes place in the future, and we know of it now. I doubt very highly that, if it is Hades, he will attempt this trick then," Helios reasoned.

"Even so, we must read on and find out whether it is Hades or not!" Rhode added.

Everyone calmed down after that.

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. **

**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

"Awww! Widdle boy's twying to defend his daddy!" Ares laughed mockingly.

Poseidon's trident formed in his hands.

Ares stopped laughing.

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. **

**Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

"He could escape it all," Artemis spat.

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—**

"Oh that is sick and wrong!" Apollo spat, making a face.

"I have a feeling the explanation is coming up," Athena said.

"Me too," Helios added.

**and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

"That woman must be really mad," Hermes said, shrinking in his throne.

"You would be too if your son didn't tell you something _vitally_ important," Athena stated mockingly.

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There** **were cloven hooves.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Aphrodite said.

"Alrighty then, who would like to read next?" Helios asked.

"I WANT TO! OH ME ME ME!" Apollo exclaimed excitedly, holding his hand up in the air and jumping up and down like a little kid.

"Alright, Alright hehe. Here you go Apollo," Helios said smiling.

He handed him the book and he started to read.

**Please please please review and let me know how I'm doing so far! This is my first fic, so I'm really nervous. Tell me what you think of Helios and Rhode. I originally decided to write a story with them in it because I have looked on this site, and I couldn't find a story with them in it. So, I decided to write one myself! As always, reviews are gold to me.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Thanks guys for all your reviews! I just have one question: I'm thinking of making a career of writing stories, do you think I'm good enough to do that or do I need to do something else? Please review and let me know! Also, I may be adding some new characters in a while. I'll have a list that you may vote on at the bottom. I hope you enjoy my story so far!**

"**My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting**," Apollo read.

"Whoa! What's going on?" Hermes asked.

"There has to be an explanation in there somewhere," Helios said.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**

Everyone laughed at that.

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

"EWWW!" Aphrodite and Hestia made disgusted faces.

"What?" Demeter and Dionysus asked in unison.

"How can you live with that?" Aphrodite asked.

"It's not so bad," Dionysus defended.

"You get used to it after a while," Demeter added.

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

"Wow, that's all you can say?" Athena mocked.

She was soaked with water, and received a wicked grin from Poseidon.

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

**"Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**

**"Urm ... what are you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

"Don't say donkey!" Dionysus spat.

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

"You're just now figuring that out?" Artemis asked.

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

"True," Rhode commented, smiling.

**"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!"**

"I'd actually pay to see that," Zeus said, grinning evilly.

"Me too!" Hades added.

"Count me in! Maybe he'll kill him!" Ares shouted.

"Then I won't have to see his ugly face ever! HAHAHAHA!" Dionysus cried.

"Over my faded body!" growled Poseidon.

"CALM DOWN! NOW!" Hera, Persephone and Rhode cried.

"Yes dear/dear/daughter,"

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

Athena was opening her mouth to say something and Poseidon knocked her throne over, with her in it, with salt water to shut her up.

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

"YES! DIE NEPHEW, DIE! MWAHAHAHA!" Hades danced around his throne like a moron.

Zeus did likewise.

"Persephone, Hera, control your husbands!" Helios said jokingly.

"Now you see what I have to deal with every single day," she responded, laughing.

Hades pouted and Hera was wrestling Zeus into his throne.

**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

"Half-Blood Hill," Hephaestus said.

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

"No, because your father couldn't control himself," Ares mocked.

"Says the one who cheats on the goddess of love," Helios said.

Ares glared at him.

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in me."**

**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."**

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

"I know, right? They're such idiots," Artemis joked.

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.**

**"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"Duh!"

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.**

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

"Zeus…"

"Obviously I didn't kill him, brother, so don't pitch a hissy fit," Zeus responeded.

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay..."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning. **

Poseidon fumed at his brother.

**That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"Awww!" all the goddesses cooed.

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

Laughter filled the throne room.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

_No…_ Poseidon thought.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

_Not him…_

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

"What big tree?" Zeus asked.

Everyone wondered at that.

**"What?"**

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

Everyone laughed.

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns…**

"NO!" Poseidon shouted.

Rhode held his hand, trying to calm him.

**"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat,**

**at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

All the goddesses had tears in their eyes then.

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

"Someone really needs to cut the grass,"

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under wear— I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

Helios, Hermes, and Apollo all started laughing hysterically.

"What?" Hera asked.

"Fruit—of the Loom—underwear," Apollo explained between gasps.

Everyone else rolled their eyes.

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

"He's real alright," Hephaestus said gruffly.

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**

"Nice save," Athena was impressed.

**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

Poseidon began biting his nails.

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

Everyone chuckled.

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

_**Not a scratch, **_

**I remembered Gabe saying.**

**Oops.**

Everyone laughed so hard they fell off their thrones.

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

**"How do you know all this?"**

"She's wise…unlike her lover," Athena stated.

Poseidon just glared at her.

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

"DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!" Poseidon cried.

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

A few of the goddesses gagged.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**

**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

**"Mom!"**

"Sally…" Poseidon said weakly.

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**

"NO!"

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

"Idiot child!" Athena spat.

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

**But it didn't happen like that.**

"Of course not," Athena and Artemis said in unison.

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

**How did I do that?**

"We don't know," Helios joked.

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

"EWWW!"

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!**

Everyone's jaw dropped.

"DAMN!" Ares exclaimed.

"I told you my son is awesome," Poseidon said, half-smiling.

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone.**

"Nice!" Hermes exclaimed.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief. I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

**"Silence, Annabeth," **

**the man said. **

"A-Annab-beth?" Athena stuttered.

"Oooh!" Helios said excitedly.

**"He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

"That's the end, guys," Apollo said.

"Alright then, who wants it next?" Helios asked.

"I want to, babe," Rhode said sweetly.

Helios smiled wide, kissed her softly on the lips, and handed her the book.

"There you are love," he replied.

**So, what do you think? I'm really getting excited about this now! Btw, here's that list I told you about:**

**Selene-Former goddess of the moon and Helios' sister.**

**Amphritite-Poseidon's wife and Rhode's mother.**

**Iris-goddess of the rainbow.**

**Or, if you wish, you may send me character suggestions in your reviews and I'll see what I can do! Again, reviews are most welcome! Thank you!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi guys! Thank you so much for reviewing! I really appreciate it! Btw, I don't own PJO. Sorry for such a long wait. Please don't stop reading or reviewing?**

"Well Athena, that was certainly a shocking twist wasn't it?" Hermes teased.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Oh come on Athena. Don't toy with us," Helios interjected.

"Yeah. We all know that girl is your daughter," Rhode added.

"In a book with your arch-rival's son as the main character too. What is the world coming to?" Apollo joked.

Athena just fumed.

Aphrodite began giggling, and everyone turned to stare at her.

"What exactly are you laughing at?" Hephaestus asked her.

"A boy and a girl…" Aphrodite giggled.

"Yes?" Artemis said.

"In a book…" the goddess of love added.

"Always end up getting together!" Helios exclaimed, nodding his head. He had figured it out.

"OH NO! You don't mean…" Athena whispered.

"Yes!" Aphrodite squealed.

"NO!"

"YES!"

"No, no, no!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Everybody began to laugh at the scene.

"Aphrodite, I don't care if you are the goddess of love, I will never allow my daughter to fall in love with that fish-brain!" Athena exclaimed, her voice rising.

"We'll just have to see about that," Aphrodite shot back.

"Athena, you seem to have a lot of disgust for that boy," Helios said.

"Yes, I do," she answered.

"Why?"

"The boy is an absolute lunatic."

"Watch it Athena," Poseidon warned.

She glared at him.

"Ok well, I have an idea then," Helios said.

"What is it?" Persephone asked.

At that moment, fifty unlit torches appeared around the throne room.

"A test, for the kid," Helios answered.

"If, at any time in the duration of these books, Percy does something smart, one of these torches will light. If, at the end, all fifty are lit, you Lady Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, must give Percy Jackson your blessing in regards to your daughter," he added.

"If not, Aphrodite does not get her wish."

"W-What?" Athena stuttered.

"C'mon Athena, if the boy is as dumb as you think he is, then you have nothing to fear," Helios told her.

A broad smile spread across his face.

"Alright," they both agreed.

"Good, let's begin!" Helios cried excitedly.

"**I Play Pinochle with a Horse**," Rhode began.

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

Everyone laughed at the image.

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

Aphrodite giggled.

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

**I managed to croak, "What?"**

**She looked around; as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, and the backs of his hands.**

"Not just his hands, nephew," Hades said.

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt. **

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**

**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, not the goat boy.**

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...**

"Nope."

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

**"The Minotaur," I said.**

**"Urm, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**

"No, just with Hades,"

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

"Awww," all the goddesses cooed.

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was **

**my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**

"OH HADES NO!" Poseidon bellowed.

**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was **

**seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.**

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."**

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.**

**And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

"Really not a good idea," Rhode told the book.

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture: an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena; except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

"They do."

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.**

Everyone except Dionysus laughed at that.

**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, **

**except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step-father.**

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. **

**She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron..."**

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.**

"Ah, I didn't know he was such a trickster," Hermes said.

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

"Boo," Rhode scowled.

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

Everyone laughed at that.

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. **

**Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

Athena beamed proudly.

**She glanced at the Minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a Minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.**

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**

Everyone laughed so hard some of them clutched their sides.

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. **

**"Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**

Everyone chuckled.

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first.**

**We contacted your mother; let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."**

"I prefer the 'Guitar Hero' series myself. And 'Band Hero.'" Helios said smiling.

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**

"No he can't. Boys can't learn anything," Artemis shot.

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron, why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer.**

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

Both Aphrodite and Hestia threw a shoe at him.

"Ouch! Ok, ok!"

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."**

**I stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

Everyone chuckled.

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as god."**

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

Zeus fumed.

"I must remember to have a talk with Chiron," he growled.

**"Smaller?"**

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

**And there it was again, distant thunder on a cloud less day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody- "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much,**

**but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. **

That's because he isn't, child," Hera told the book.

Dionysus beamed proudly.

**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

"Right."

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning?**

**What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

"Yeah, punk," Ares commented.

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

"YOU INSOLENT LITTLE-"Zeus bellowed.

"I'M SORRY!" Dionysus screamed and ran around the room, chased by his father.

"YOU'RE GONNA BE!" Zeus called out.

"STOP!" Hera screamed.

They both calmed down and took their seats.

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

**More thunder.**

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me."**

**The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

Zeus growled.

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

"I know it's hard to believe," Apollo joked.

Dionysus glared at him.

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

Dionysus chuckled evilly.

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

"HA! Dionysus you may be a good drinker, but you are a lousy card player," Hermes laughed.

"I could give you a few pointers, if you want," he added smiling.

"Shut up!" Dionysus spat.

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

"Poor dear," Hestia said quietly.

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. **

**He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

"Get used to it," Zeus commented.

Dionysus just pouted.

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"**

"Sure we are."

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

"Oh my gods…" Athena began.

She was instantly sprayed with water.

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."**

**"And then they died."**

Everyone laughed so hard they fell off their thrones.

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture.**

**People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.**

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

"No, he's not."

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**

Everyone just laughed.

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

"That's it, guys," Rhode said.  
>"Ok, who would like to read next?" Helios asked.<p>

"I will, if not but to just get my turn over with," Zeus grumbled.

Helios tossed him the book.

**I hope you all like it! Btw, I'll give you a few more days to either vote or send character suggestions for new readers. As always, please review! Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hi guys! What do you think so far? What do you think of Helios' test? In your opinion, does Percy have what it takes? Also, I'm really sorry if the last chapter did not have much of the gods talking. I must admit, I was in a bit of a rush to get it done. I did not want you guys to have to wait any longer than you had to. But I promise, I will never rush again. That's mostly why it's taken me so long with this chapter. If you all will stick with me, I'll get it done. Thank you. **

"**I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom**," Zeus read.

Several of the gods and goddesses laughed at the title.

"O-Kay," Helios muttered.

Rhode and Persephone could not stop giggling.

"Alright, alright, its not that funny," Poseidon said defensively.

"Says the father," Apollo chuckled.

Hermes high-fived him.

"This ought to be some good news," Hades said sarcastically.

"Watch it!" Poseidon warned. His trident formed in his hands.

"Bring it," Hades responded calmly, grinning.

His hand went to his opposite hip, and his sword formed in his grip as if he was unsheathing it.

"Now, now children, play nicely," Helios said playfully, smiling.

"He started it!" Poseidon exclaimed.

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it!" Zeus responded.

Everyone else laughed at that, and Rhode and Persephone tried to calm Poseidon and Hades, respectively.

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, **

"He is not a horse, he is a centaur! How many times do we have to explain that?" Dionysus called out.

"What's the matter with you? He only said that once," Hestia asked.

"Yes, but I've heard that same sentence from so many of those spoiled brats, it drives me crazy!"

"Well then, you should be able to handle it, seeing as though you are the god of madness as well as wine," Helios pointed out jokingly.

Everyone else laughed at that, while Dionysus just fumed and glared at him.

**we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**

Green fire flared on one of the torches.

"Wait! How does that count?" Athena asked shocked.

"Well, is it or is it not wise to be wary of a horse's-or centaur's-backside?" Helios asked.

"Here, here" Apollo and Hermes said in unison.

Several of the others agreed.

Poseidon smiled wickedly at her.

_This is going to be fun…_

Athena just fumed.

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."**

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters.**

All the goddesses gagged.

**I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**

"Oh no…not yet," Poseidon whispered.

"OH YAY! MY LOVELY ORACLE!" Apollo cried with joy.

"Ok ok, calm down, grasshopper," Helios told him smiling.

**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

**"Somebody lives there?"**

**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**

"He got the living part right," Dionysus muttered.

"What do you mean?" Rhode asked, confused. Helios wondered at that as well.

"Well, for the past several decades, the spirit of the Oracle hasn't exited its last host. Its been inhabiting the same body since World War II," Apollo explained.

Nobody noticed Hades getting a bit more tense at that.

"As a matter of fact, that whole issue's got me worried," he continued.

"Since when do you worry about anything?" Artemis asked mockingly.

Apollo just pouted in his throne.

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**

**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.**

"You do realize that wine grapes and edible grapes are not the same, right?" Demeter asked.

"Yes," Dionysus said, irritated.

"Then why don't you just grow grapes for eating instead?" she added.

"Yeah. I didn't say you couldn't grow those," Zeus commented.

"It would be too tempting to grow grapes period. I would constantly be growing the wrong grapes by accident, and-"

"Accident, right," Zeus muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Let's continue, please? I'm getting bored," Dionysus groaned.

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.**

"Nope," Dionysus said. "He tries though."

**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**

**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**

**"But he did that!"**

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**

"True."

**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**

**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. **

"What happened then that was so bad?" Hephaestus asked, frustrated.

"Maybe it will tell later on," Hestia said.

**Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."**

**"How old is he?"**

**"Oh, twenty-eight."**

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**

**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**

"AHHH! THE HORROR!" Apollo, Hermes and Helios cried.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

"Idiots," Athena spat.

**"That's horrible."**

**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."**

**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**

"Exactly what we would like to know!" Artemis exclaimed.

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**

"Don't get your hopes up, nephew," Hades told the book.

"Why not dear?" Persephone asked.

"Yes, brother, why not?" Poseidon asked darkly.

"Because, whatever reason I had, or in this case will have to take his mother, I'm sure it's a good one," Hades answered.

"That's true," Persephone added. "He never swipes living mortals from the mortal world unless its for a good reason."

Poseidon growled but sat back down.

**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**

**"Yes, child?"**

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**

**Chiron's expression darkened.**

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**

"Yes! Don't even think about it!"

**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**

**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**

**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

**"My own—?"**

"Oh Poseidon, your son is hopeless!" Athena exclaimed.

"He just got there, Athena!" Poseidon shot back.

"He won't even last a week in the camp!" she continued.

"You know what?" He asked.

"What!" she screamed.

A wave then picked up Athena's throne, with her in it, and carried her coughing and sputtering out of the throne room.

"Thank you," Hephaestus told Poseidon. "I couldn't stand her one more minute."

"Your welcome," he answered. "I felt the same way."

Everyone just laughed at that.

A few minutes later, Athena came back in the throne room fuming. She opened her mouth to say something, but Zeus told her,

"Don't start that up again."

"Yes father," she said angrily.

Apollo, Hermes and Helios snickered.

She shot them her death-glare.

**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),**

Everyone laughed.

**the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**

"Ah, my favorite place in the whole camp!" Ares exclaimed.

**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

"Yeah, punk!"

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually.**

**Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**

**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

Everyone laughed at that.

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.**

**"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**

"Yep! Us too!" Apollo remarked.

Helios and Hermes agreed.

"Can't you numbskulls think of anything but food?" Artemis spat.

"I say let's take a break after this chapter," Helios suggested.

They were all getting a little hungry, so they agreed.

Everyone that is, except Artemis, who fumed.

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**

"That may be because they are representations of us, child," Hera said proudly.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

_How dramatic…_

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.**

"Hey, that's mine!" Hephaestus cheered.

Aphrodite glared at him.

**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. **

"That one's mine!" Demeter called out.

**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. **

"WOOHOO! Mine's the best!" Apollo cried.

Everyone glared at him, except for Helios and Rhode, who just shook their heads.

**they all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**

"Oh! He actually noticed me!" Hestia squeeled.

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.**

**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**

**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**

**"Correct," Chiron said.**

**"Their cabins look empty."**

"That's because they are," Hera remarked wickedly. She looked at her husband.

"Aren't they?"

"Yes dear," Zeus responded.

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.**

Everyone laughed so hard at that, some of them fell off their thrones.

**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**

"Mine," Poseidon said, grinning softly.

**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn**

**straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**

Poseidon was saddened.

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**

**Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.**

"Ares cabin! Oh yeah!" Ares cheered, pumping his fists in the air.

**The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**

"Clarisse!" Ares laughed evilly.

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid.**

"They're not so bad!" Hermes said, smiling.

"They are AWESOME!" Apollo cried.

"PARTY PONIES RULE!" they both cheered.

"What has gotten into them?" Rhode asked.

"A while back, all the centaurs got together and formed some kind of fraternity. All they ever do is throw wild parties," Aphrodite explained.

"Oh," Helios said. "We just may have to check them out sometime honey."

He put his arm around his wife.

She giggled and answered, "Yep."

**You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**

**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**

**He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**

**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**

Everyone had really weird expressions on their faces, as if that was the strangest question that anyone had ever asked.

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**

Everyone nodded solemnly.

"Yes you are," Hera told the book.

Everybody agreed.

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**

**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

**"Why depressing?"**

There was a moment of silence. All the heroes past and present raced through the minds of the Olympians. They knew all too well the fate of heroes. They hung their heads in respect.

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**

**The blonde girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**

**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**

Suddenly, everyone burst out laughing.

Helios mimicked drooling.

"Poseidon, your son is too much!" Hermes told him.

He answered laughing, "I agree."

**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.**

"That's because your brain is meant to understand ancient Greek, you fool," Athena snapped. "Don't you realize that already?"

"Obviously not," Artemis said.

Poseidon soaked them both with saltwater, but said nothing.

**There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**

**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old.**

"Hey!" Hermes exclaimed. "It's not that bad!"

"Have you seen it lately?" Hephaestus asked.

"Well…no," Hermes answered.

He disappeared for a minutes, then came back sulking.

"Well?" Demeter asked expectantly.

She raised one eyebrow.

"Ok, ok, I'll get someone to renovate it later," he pouted and returned to his throne.

**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**

**A caduceus.**

"Hey, the kid knew that!" Apollo said.

Athena eyed Helios critically.

"Don't you dare…"

"What?" Helios defended. "I wasn't going to. That one doesn't count."

"Good," Athena said finally.

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**

**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**

**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.**

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**

**Everybody groaned.**

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.**

**"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**

**"This is Luke," **

"My boy," Hermes said proudly.

**Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.**

"Oh! Does someone have a crush?" Rhode asked excitedly.

Aphrodite smiled really big and squeeled.

"Shut up!" Athena snapped. "Anyways, he is better than the son of a certain Sea God I could mention."

"Don't even start with me, Athena!" Poseidon warned her.

**She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor, for now."**

**"For now?" I asked.**

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**

**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

**"How long will that take?"**

**The campers all laughed.**

**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**

**"I've already seen it."**

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**

**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**

**"What?"**

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**

Poseidon glared at Athena.

"That girl's attitude is really starting to get on my nerves," Helios said.

"Mine too," Rhode added.

"He won't learn a damn thing that way. He'll only become angry," Helios added.

Athena just glared at them.

**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**

**"To get killed?"**

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**

**"Yes."**

**"Then there's only one."**

**"Yes."**

**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**

"Athena, is gajillion even a number?" Aphrodite asked.

"No," she answered.

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

"That is contradictory," Apollo said mock-sagely.

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche types. Eventually, they re-form."**

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

**"You talk in your sleep."**

"And you drool too!" Hermes cried.

Everyone laughed at the reference.

**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**

**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.**

**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**

**"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."**

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**

Poseidon wiped a tear from his eye.

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**

**"He's dead. I never knew him."**

"No he's not," Rhode defended.

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.**

**"Your father's not dead, Percy."**

**"How can you say that? You know him?"**

**"No, of course not."**

**"Then how can you say—"**

**"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**

**"You don't know anything about me."**

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**

**"How—"**

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**

Athena beamed proudly at the thought of her daughter.

Poseidon noticed and grumbled to himself.

Rhode patted his arm.

"He'll get the hang of it, Dad. Don't worry," she smiled at him confidently.

Helios added, "Yeah. These books wouldn't be in existance unless he becomes one of the world's greatest heroes."

Poseidon smiled broadly at them both.

"Thanks. I think right now you're the only ones besides me in here that believe he can do anything right," he said.

"I wouldn't worry about everyone else. They'll see in time," Helios stated.

**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**

**"Ambrosia and nectar."**

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. **

**It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**

**A half-blood.**

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**

"Oh no."

**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin**

Everyone else chuckled while Ares growled.

**was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**

**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**

**''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. **

"Oh my gods Athena!" Hestia gasped. "I can't believe that your daughter has even heard of such language!"

"Well, I certainly didn't teach her that!" Athena defended.

"Maybe she's been hanging around the Ares cabin," Apollo joked.

"Nope. I would've known if she had," Dionysus said.

Nobody could control their laughter.

**"You don't stand a chance."**

**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. **

**She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**

**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**

Everyone laughed so hard they fell out of their thrones.

"OH! DAMN!" Hermes cried.

"Poseidon, your son is a total badass!" Helios exclaimed laughing.

"Yeah! He's packin' both barrels!" Apollo added.

Poseidon couldn't control his laughter enough to respond.

"I'll spare him just because he's got balls," Ares chuckled.

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**

**"Percy."**

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**

**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.**

**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**

**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**

"There you go, son," Poseidon told the book.

"Maybe this punk isn't that bad after all," Ares said.

**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron.**

Everyone laughed.

**She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**

**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**

Ares snickered.

Poseidon growled.

**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. **

**I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, **_**I will not go into that. I won't.**_

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. **

"Uh-oh," Poseidon said sarcastically with a smile. "Here it comes."

**I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**

**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.**

Everyone was laughing and howling except for Ares.

"SHUT UP!" he bellowed.

"Your daughter just got owned!" Helios cried.

"By sea spawn no less," Athena stated.

Ares just growled at them.

**The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**

**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**

**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**

**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.**

There was fire in Athena's eyes as she glared at Poseidon.

"What?" "The sea doesn't like to be restrained."

**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**

**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**

**"I don't know."**

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. **

**She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**

**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**

Everyone except Ares howled with laughter.

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**

**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**

"That's the end of the chapter," Zeus said.

"Alrighty then. I think I'll read next," Helios stated.

"That's fine," everyone agreed.

He took the book from the king of the gods, turned to the right page, and began to read.

**I hope this chapter was better than the last one. Please review and tell me what you all think! Thank you! Oh, and I tallied up the votes and the winner is…..Amphritite! YAY! Lol**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hi guys! Thank you all so much for your reviews! I really appreciate them more than you could ever know. I hope the previous chapter was better than the one before it. I am really sorry for the long wait! I know it's been more than two weeks, and I apologize. I really am sorry about that part. Also, I know you guys have been waiting for this: Amphitrite joins in! By the way, because I seem to be forgetting this part: I do not own PJO. Thank you and enjoy!**

Helios was just about to turn to the right page and start reading when suddenly a huge jet of water shot from the floor in the center of the throne room like a fountain. Everyone was taken aback by this when Poseidon's wife Amphritite walked out looking extremely frustrated. The fountain lessened down to a trickle and then disappeared completely.

"Poseidon! What the Hades are you doing up here? The meeting was supposed to be over hours ago! I-" she stopped in mid-sentence as she realized who was present.

"OH MY GODS!" Amphritite screamed, rushing over to hug her daughter and son in-law.

"Well, hello to you too," Helios said smiling.

"Mother! Oh I've missed you so much!" Rhode exclaimed.

"Wh-Where have you been? I haven't seen you in over a thousand years!"

"Well, we have decided to tell all as soon as we finish reading these books," Helios told her.

"What are they for?" she asked, confused.

"They are from the future mother. The Fates gave them to us and said that we must read them with the gods," Rhode explained.

"I will slow down time so nobody has to worry about their duties for a while," Helios said, snapping his fingers.

"You can't control time," Hera stated.

"For your information, I control the measurement of time, so if I want a second to last for as long as a century, I can make it so," Helios defended with a smug look on his face.

Hera had no comeback to that.

Zeus nudged his wife. "That shut you up didn't it?"

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at that.

"What are the books about?" Amphritite asked. She knew the Fates would never interfere with events unless it was absolutely necessary.

Everyone instantly knew to keep Percy's true parentage a secret. They knew the result of them telling would NOT be pretty.

"A demigod named Peter Johnson," Dionysus mumbled.

"Percy Jackson!" Everyone else corrected him.

"Who's his parent?" Amphritite asked.

"He hasn't been claimed yet," Hermes answered.

"Oh."

"Tell her about the challenge Helios," Apollo said, smiling creepily.

"What challenge?" she asked, worried. She did NOT like Apollo's expression.

"Apparently," he explained, "there could be a future romantic relationship between this boy and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. She does not like this idea because she is convinced the boy is a moron."

"He is!" Athena exclaimed.

"So," Helios continued, ignoring her, "I came up with a little test. Whenever he does something smart or wise, one of these fifty torches will light up." He gestured to the torches. "If by the end of these five books all of the torches are lit, Athena must give Percy her blessing in regards to Annabeth."

"If not?"

"Well, if not, then she doesn't."

Athena nodded firmly.

"Alright. I'll join you," Amphritite said finally.

"Begin please, Helios," Artemis said.

"**My Dinner Goes up in Smoke**," Helios began.

**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately.**

**Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**

**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), **

"Good choice children," Hephaestus said.

**the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man),**

Hermes' thoughts began to wander towards his son.

"Pan…" he whispered. He missed him terribly.

**and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**

**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**

**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**

**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**

**"Whatever."**

**"It wasn't my fault."**

"Oh yes it was!" Athena called out.

**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it was my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**

_Huh?_ Amphritite thought to herself.

Everyone laughed at that so hard they fell off their thrones.

**"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**

**"Who?"**

**"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**

"She should be a who, not a what!" Apollo exclaimed.

**I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**

**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**

**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**

"Yes they are," Amphritite said, rolling her eyes. "I can't get them away from Triton."

**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**

Everyone just burst out laughing.

**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**

**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**

"No, she means totally awesome half-god kids!" Helios exclaimed.

He high-fived both Hermes and Apollo, but Rhode just couldn't keep from laughing.

**"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**

**"Half-human and half-what?"**

**"I think you know."**

**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**

**"God," I said. "Half-god."**

"BINGO!" Apollo cried.

**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**

**"That's ... crazy."**

"Denial," Hestia said. "Dionysus, you may need to have a talk with him about that."

Dionysus just grumbled.

"Or maybe not," Hestia concieted.

**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans**

All the gods burst out laughing.

"She actually thinks we fall in love!" Ares laughed.

"OH…MY…GODS…ATHENA," Hermes said in-between gasps. "Your daughter is too much!"

"SHUT UP!" Athena cried angrily.

**and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**

**"But those are just—" I almost said myths again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, I might be considered a myth.**

**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"**

**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**

**"Then who's your dad?"**

Athena fumed.

**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**

"No shit, Sherlock," Athena mocked.

"Give the kid a break Athena. I've told you before, he doesn't know about us yet," Poseidon defended.

**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**

**"He's human."**

**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**

"Very much so," Aphrodite said, irritated.

**"Who's your mom, then?"**

**"Cabin six."**

**"Meaning?"**

**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**

Athena beamed proudly.

**Okay, I thought. Why not?**

**"And my dad?"**

**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**

**"Except my mother. She knew."**

"Most likely not, dear," Amphritite told the book.

_Yes she did…_ Poseidon thought.

**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**

**"My dad would have. He loved her."**

**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.**

**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."**

**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**

"Unfortunately not," Hestia said.

"Deal with it, punk!" Ares grunted.

**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."**

This brought tears to many of the Olympians' eyes. They knew all too well the reality of the relationships they had with their children, but nothing could be done because of Zeus.

**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better.**

Everyone looked at Zeus.

"Don't even start," he said. "You all know the consequences of too much time with those demigods."

**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**

**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force.**

"Hey!" Demeter and Aphrodite cried in unison.

**The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**

"A very few indeed," Helios stated.

**"So monsters can't get in here?"**

**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**

**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**

**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**

"I wonder who's children those could be?" Aphrodite asked sarcastically.

**"Practical jokes?"**

"Duh."

**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."**

**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**

"Yes, unfortunately because of her father," Athena stated frustratingly.

**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**

**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**

**"Why did you come so young?"**

Athena looked pained.

**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**

"That's right," Athena added.

**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**

**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**

**"Unless?"**

**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"**

**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**

"I wonder what happened?" Hermes asked.

"I guess we'll find out later. Let's hurry this up, I'm getting bored. When's the fighting gonna come?" Ares asked, whining.

This earned him a pinch on the arm from Aphrodite.

"Ouch! Ok!"

**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"**

**"Ambrosia."**

**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**

**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"**

**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**

"Like she would know," Hephaestus grumbled.

Athena glared at him with fire in her eyes.

Apollo, Hermes and Helios all chuckled secretly at that.

**She clenched her fists.**

**"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."**

**"You've been to Olympus?"**

**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**

**"But... how did you get there?"**

**"The Long Island Railroad, of course.**

"Duh."

**You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.**

**"You are a New Yorker, right?"**

**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**

**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. **

"We still don't know what that is!" Hades exclaimed. "It's driving me crazy!"

Persephone tried to calm him down.

**And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.**

Athena and Poseidon glared at each other.

"Not now you two," Zeus commanded, holding his bolt ready.

They both backed down, but didn't say a word.

**But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."**

**I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.**

**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"**

**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. **

"Boys never think of anything but food," Artemis said, irritated.

**I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.**

**Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. **

**They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. **

"That's because they are troublemakers, just like their father," Demeter said eyeing Hermes fiercely.

He smiled wickedly back at her.

**Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.**

**The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**

_Where did he get that scar?_ Hermes thought.

**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."**

**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**

"He wasn't," Hermes said smiling.

**I said, "Thanks."**

**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"**

**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**

"Better you start now brat," Dionysus mocked.

"Oh, give him some time," Helios defended.

**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**

The gods and goddesses all winced at that.

**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.**

**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**

**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**

**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**

Everyone couldn't help but laugh as Hermes sat in his throne pouting.

**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."**

**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.**

**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.**

**"Once."**

**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.**

**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."**

They all smiled.

**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**

Everyone chuckled at that.

**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**

**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, **

Hermes winced as everyone realized where Luke had gotten his scar.

"The dragon…" Hermes whimpered.

**Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."**

**"Somebody special?"**

"Somebody like you," Aphrodite squeeled.

"Shut up!" Athena cried.

**"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**

**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**

**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**

**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.**

"Hehe, my cabin," Artemis said smugly.

**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods—**

**and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**

**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.**

**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.**

"I need to upgrade my patronage," Hermes commented.

"Yes you do," Amphritite said.

**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. **

"The only kids there who aren't brats…MINE!" Dionysus called out, laughing.

**Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.**

**Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**

Athena beamed at the mention of her children.

**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**

Ares smiled.

**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**

**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**

**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**

**I said, "Cherry Coke."**

"Interesting choice," Hestia commented.

**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.**

**Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke."**

"I should've known," Rhode said, chuckling.

Amphritite looked at her husband in confusion.

He looked over and said, "He has a thing for blue food. Apparently this extends to drink as well."

"Oh," she said, laughing.

**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**

**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**

**I drank a toast to my mother.**

"Awww, how adorable," Amphritite said sweetly.

"He's a kind-hearted one, even if he is a demigod," Hera said calmly, although she put an edge on that word. All the gods and goddesses shrank back from her piercing gaze.

**She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...**

**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.**

**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.**

**I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.**

Everyone chuckled at that.

**"Come on," Luke told me.**

"Lucky for you Luke stopped you," Zeus commented darkly.

**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**

**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**

**"You're kidding."**

**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**

"It doesn't smell like burning food, you dimwit," Athena mocked.

"I agree. He is a dimwit," Artemis commented.

"Me too," Hera added.

Poseidon tried his best to stay composed.

**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."**

**I was next.**

**I wished I knew what god's name to say.**

**Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you are, tell me. Please.**

**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.**

At that moment, one of the torches burned with green fire.

"What?" Athena stared at Helios, shocked.

"Yes, I believe you should explain yourself this time," Zeus stated.

"Alright," he replied.

He leaned back in his throne and began to explain:

"The reason I chose this instance was because Percy has shown respect to the gods."

"Huh? How so?" Artemis asked.

"He offered a sacrifice to someone he doesn't even know, and is not even sure he believes exists," Helios answered.

"That's right! He made a point to Chiron earlier that he didn't even believe in us!" Apollo pointed out.

Dionysus blurted, "Oh, the brat's just going along with what everyone else is doing."

"What answer do you have for that?" Aphrodite asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"The boy's good at standing up for himself and others. If you remember, he kept Grover out of trouble with bullies lots of times. He's independent-minded. That means he probably doesn't care much what everyone else is doing."

"Ok, ok, but how does this prove he's smart?" Athena asked, irritated.

"It does because Percy is being cautious. He isn't sure if we really exist or not yet, but he offered a sacrifice just in case. The boy is practicing caution, which is, in this case, wise in and of itself," Helios finished.

Nobody could argue with that.

**When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.**

**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**

**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**

**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. **

**"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**

"Oh yeah! Woohoo!" Ares cheered, pumping his fists in the air.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

**A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.**

**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."**

"You got his name wrong again, you old sot," Poseidon mocked.

"Shut up!" Dionysus defended angrily.

"Am I gonna have to separate you two?" Amphritite asked.

"Oh no, but you probably will have to separate him from Athena. They've been at each others' throats since we started," Hermes remarked.

"They're always at each others' throats," Amphritite answered.

Everyone laughed at that.

**Chiron murmured something.**

**"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**

**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. **

"Here we go!" Apollo said happily.

**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.**

**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.**

**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**

"Awww!" All the goddesses cooed.

**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**

**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.**

**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**

"That's it guys," Helios stated.

"Alright, I say we take a break and start fresh tomorrow," Apollo suggested.

It was getting rather late, so they all agreed to stop reading for the night and begin anew the next day.

"What are we going to do now, then?" Amphritite asked.

"We haven't seen you guys in such a long time. Let's have some fun!" Helios cheered.

**Thank you guys for reading! Please review and tell me what you think of it so far. What do you like about it? What do you not like about it? What do you think of Amphritite? Is the story funny at all? I try to make it as funny as possible, but I really don't know unless you guys tell me. Thank you all again and please review!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hi again to all you guys and gals! I hope you all liked the last chapter, and I'm really sorry that it took me so long to update. Sorry if this next chapter isn't exactly what you're looking for, but its where Helios, Rhode and Amphritite get to spend some quality time with the Olympians. Anyways, here's the next chapter!**

**Oh and by the way, I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.**

"What do you suggest?" Apollo asked excitedly. Back before he disappeared, Helios and Rhode always threw the best parties.

"I challenge you," Helios answered smiling, "to a rock-off."

"What's that?" Aphrodite asked.

"Yeah what does that mean?" Hephaestus added.

"They're going to play Rock God III and see who rocks the most," Hermes explained.

"Great. The two biggest boobs* in the universe are showing off to see who's the even bigger boob*," Athena mocked.

"Shut up!" Rhode shouted. "He may be a boob, but he's MY boob!"

"I didn't think that was possible," Ares said smirking.

"What?" Rhode asked.

"That you could have three boobs," Ares responded, laughing heavily.

"Ares, I believe that's the most use of your brain I have ever seen," Dionysus remarked.

"Hey!" Helios screamed. He tackled them both and punched their lights out. Nobody, absolutely nobody, got away with speaking to his wife in such a manner. He saw to it that no one disrespected his wife.

"What's going on?" Zeus called out over the noise after rushing in from the other room with the rest of the gods.

"He harassed me," Rhode said, pointing to Ares. Then she explained exactly what was said and what had happened.

Poseidon, Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, and Amphritite proceeded to beat the shit out of them both. While that was going on, Helios went over to comfort his wife.

"Are you alright, honey?" Helios asked tenderly, holding her close.

"I am now," she responded, laying her head on his shoulder. "I'm ok now baby. I'm sure of it," she added, smiling up at him.

"Alright," Helios conceded.

Rhode threw a shoe at both Ares and Dionysus while Helios and Apollo set up the game. Apollo set his character up to the "hard" difficulty and got to choose the first song.

"I choose _I Hope It Gives You Hell_ by the All American Rejects," Apollo announced.

Everyone gathered round to watch the two at their competition. Everyone that is, except Hephaestus, who snuck away with a huge grin on his face without anyone noticing.

_I wake up every evening, with a big smile on my face_

_And it never feels out of place_

_And you're still probably working at a 9 to 5 base_

_I wonder how bad that tastes_

_When you see my face hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Now where's you picket fence love_

_And where's that shiny car, _

_And did it ever get you far_

_You've never seem so tense love_

_I've never seen you fall so hard, _

_Do you know where you are?_

_And truth be told I miss you_

_And truth be told I'm lying_

_When you see my face hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well_

_Then he's a fool, you're just as well hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself_

_Where'd it all go wrong, the list goes on and on_

_And truth be told I miss you_

_And truth be told I'm lying_

_When you see my face hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well_

_Then he's a fool, you're just as well hope it gives you hell_

_Now you'll never see, what you've done to me_

_You can take back your memories there no good to me_

_And he hears all your lies, _

_You can look me in my eyes_

_With that sad sad look you wear so well_

_When you see my face hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well_

_Then he's a fool, you're just as well hope it gives you hell_

_When you see my face hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When hear this song and you sing along oh you'll never tell_

_Then your the fool, I'm just as well_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you hear this song I hope that it will give you hell_

_You can sing along I hope that it will treat you well_

Apollo almost hit all the notes correctly, and when the statistics came up on the screen, it showed that he had gotten ninety-five percent of the notes correct. Upon seeing those results, he ran a victory lap around everyone.

"Beat that!" he cried.

"I wouldn't celebrate yet if I were you Apollo," Rhode said smiling.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because I've had thousands of years to practice and you haven't," Helios answered.

Everyone laughed at that.

"He's got you there, hasn't he?" Hades asked mockingly.

"Shut up!" Apollo pouted. "Alright then smartass, which song will you choose?"

"I choose _Lips of an Angel_ by Hinder," Helios answered. He set his character to the "hard" difficulty as well.

_Honey why are you calling me so late?_

_It's kinda hard to talk right now_

_Honey why are you crying, is everything okay?_

_I gotta whisper cause I can't be too loud_

_Well, my girl's in the next room_

_Sometimes I wish she was you_

_I guess we never really moved on_

_It's really good to hear your voice saying my name_

_It sounds so sweet_

_Coming from the lips of an angel_

_Hearing those words it makes me weak_

_And I never wanna say goodbye_

_But girl you make it hard to be faithful_

_With the lips of an angel_

_It's funny that you're calling me tonight_

_And yes I've dreamt of you too_

_And does he know you're talking to me?_

_Will it start a fight?_

_No I don't think she has a clue_

_Well my girl's in the next room_

_Sometimes I wish she was you_

_I guess we never really moved on_

_It's really good to hear your voice saying my name_

_It sounds so sweet_

_Coming from the lips of an angel_

_Hearing those words it makes me weak_

_And I never wanna say goodbye_

_But girl you make it hard to be faithful_

_With the lips of an angel_

_It's really good to hear your voice saying my name_

_It sounds so sweet_

_Coming from the lips of an angel_

_Hearing those words it makes me weak_

_And I never wanna say goodbye_

_But girl you make it hard to be faithful_

_With the lips of an angel_

_And I never wanna say goodbye_

_But girl you make it hard to be faithful_

_With the lips of an angel_

_Honey why are you calling me so late?_

As the last note was played, the results came up on the screen: ninety-eight percent of the notes hit correctly.

"Oh yeah!" Helios cried. Rhode cheered and hugged him tightly.

"I want another round!" Apollo cried.

"Alright," Helios answered smiling. He reset his character and turned it up to the "god-hard" difficulty.

"W-Wait, what?" Apollo asked shocked. "Nobody can beat that level. It's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible, old friend," Helios said mock-sagely.

"If you can complete that whole song, I'll forfeit my turn and you win," Apollo told him, holding his hands up.

"Fine with me," Helios answered. "I choose _If Everyone Cared_ by Nickelback."

_From underneath the trees, we watch the sky_

_Confusing stars for satellites_

_I never dreamed that you'd be mine_

_But here we are, we're here tonight_

_Singing Amen, I'm alive_

_Singing Amen, I'm alive_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_We'd see the day when nobody died_

_And I'm singing_

_Amen I, I'm alive_

_Amen I, I'm alive_

_And in the air the fireflies_

_Our only light in paradise_

_We'll show the world they were wrong_

_And teach them all to sing along_

_Singing Amen I'm alive_

_Singing Amen I'm alive_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_We'd see the day when nobody died_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_We'd see the day when nobody died_

_And as we lie beneath the stars_

_We realize how small we are_

_If they could love like you and me_

_Imagine what the world could be_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_We'd see the day when nobody died_

_We'd see the day, we'd see the day_

_When nobody died_

_We'd see the day, we'd see the day_

_When nobody died_

_We'd see the day when nobody died_

As soon as the song was done, the results were up on the screen. Not only did Helios complete the song, but he even got ninety percent of the notes correct.

"Holy crap!" Apollo gasped. "I give up! That's it!"

He began to grovel at Helios' feet.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the scene.

"Get up Apollo, get up!" Helios said smiling.

"What now?" Rhode asked when they all had settled down.

"I've got a surprise for all you people," Hephaestus said smiling. He had a gleam in his eye that meant he had been working on something very hard, and now it was complete. "Come outside."

They all filed out onto the balcony which had a spectacular view of New York City. After Hephaestus punched a few buttons on a control panel, one-hundred rockets shot up from somewhere on Olympus and exploded in a marvelous fireworks display. Every shade and hue of every color imaginable burst from all the rockets. This went on for another two hours, and everyone except Ares and Dionysus agreed that it was a prefect ending to the day.

After much preparation, Demeter and Hestia made a huge dinner for everyone in Helios' and Rhode's honor. A spread of roast beef and chicken, several different kinds of fruits and berries, and several different kinds of vegetables were laid out before them. After about an hour and a half of conversation, it was getting rather late so they all decided to turn in for the night.

"I've GOT to go to bed," Rhode said after a while. "I can hardly keep my eyes open."

"Good night all," Helios told them. They all went to bed, excited about the next day.

***: To those of you who don't know, the term "boob" can refer to an idiot or a moron.**


	10. Chapter 8 of LT

**Hi you guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, as I have been very very busy and it turned into an extremely long chapter. Please forgive me! Anyway, I know that you've all been waiting for this: the chapter when Amphritite learns that Percy is Poseidon's son!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

The next morning everyone took their places to begin reading after a hearty breakfast. All the Olympians were in their usual place, as Rhode took her seat beside Helios and Amphritite took her seat near Poseidon. That morning, Rhode wore a flowing, bright golden dress and a necklace of emeralds and pearls to compliment her deep green eyes and long raven hair. Amphritite wore the same type of necklace, but wore a dark blue dress.

"Who would like to read first this time?" Helios asked.

"I think I'll read this time. I haven't gotten a chance to read yet," Poseidon suggested.

"Alright then," Helios answered handing him the book. The Sea God turned to the right page and began.

"**We Capture a Flag**,"Poseidon stated.

**The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.**

"You had best get used to it brat," Dionysus spat.

**Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird.**

Dionysus threw up his hands in defeat.

"Leave him alone Dionysus. He just got there," Amphritite scolded him. Rhode nodded in agreement.

**I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English.**

"At least Greek won't float off the page," Athena stated.

**After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.**

"Hey! It's not that hard," Athena pouted.

"Athena, you know I agree with you one-hundred percent on that, but at least Percy's learning," Apollo said.

"Yeah Athena," Helios said smiling evilly. "Isn't that what you want?"

Apollo caught on. Grinning wickedly, he asked "Come on Athena, don't you want him to get _wiser_?"

"Shut up you two," Athena warned.

"Light the torch, light the torch," Hermes chanted.

"Kick his ass, kick his ass," Hephaestus said, tired of the rant.

"With pleasure," Athena and Artemis said darkly in unison.

Hermes shut up after that threat.

**The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery,**

"Nice skill to know," none other than Apollo said.

**but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow.**

"Well Apollo, we can be sure he's not your child," Amphritite said.

"Nope, obviously not," he agreed, trying to keep a straight face.

**He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.**

Everyone chuckled at that.

**Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. **

All the goddesses laughed at that, while most of the gods weren't too happy.

"I resent that remark!" Zeus exclaimed.

"Me too!" Apollo and Hermes said in unison.

Amphritite glared at her husband, remembering all the times he had cheated on her with some nature spirit.

Hades couldn't help but chuckle as he watched his brothers get riled up.

However, Helios and Rhode just shook their heads and smiled to themselves.

**But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.**

At that remark, everyone laughed so hard they fell off their thrones.

**And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.**

"Yeah she would, punk!" Ares mocked.

**"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.**

"A lot more," Ares said smiling darkly.

**The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.**

"Canoeing?" Amphritite asked. Poseidon had become very tense, but eventually calmed himself down enough to act natural.

_Please don't figure it out…_ he thought.

**I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, **

"No way shrimp," Ares told the book.

**or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.**

"Sorry 'bout that," Apollo said.

**I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork**

"He sure isn't mine," Hephaestus said gruffly.

**or—gods forbid— Dionysus's way with vine plants.**

"THANK OLYMPUS!" Dionysus cheered.

**Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. **

"Sorry kid, not me either," Hermes said frowning.

**But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either.**

**Despite all that, I liked camp. **

"Good, because you're going to be there a long time," Hera commented.

**I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night.**

"That would be somewhat difficult to get used to," Hestia mused, shuddering.

**I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came.**

"Awww," Amphritite frowned. Poseidon's voice was less excited then before.

**Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile.**

Poseidon began to think back to the last time he saw his son…

**I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...**

"Don't even try, nephew," Hades said. Persephone smacked him on the back of the head.

"Oh, why not?" she asked, irritated.

"Because she's mine until I release her, that's why," he answered.

"Oh come on, Hades," Rhode, Hestia, Aphrodite and Amphritite said.

"Maybe. If I get something out of it, and that's final," Hades said firmly.

**I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. **

**So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something?**

"No, we're not allowed," Apollo said, glaring at Zeus.

"Don't even start with me," he said.

**Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**

"No."

**Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson.**

"This should be interesting," Ares said smiling.

**Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**

"Woohoo! Yeah!" Hermes cheered.

**We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**

"Well, that's a start," Ares commented.

Athena nodded in agreement.

**The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long.**

"Sometimes sport you just have to make do," Helios interjected.

**Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**

"Awww, how sweet! At least he tried," Aphrodite smiled at Hermes.

He smiled back.

**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.**

"Great, maybe he'll die by accident and I won't have to deal with him anymore," Dionysus mused.

Everyone looked at him in shock.

"That's terrible!" Hestia shouted.

Dionysus just shrugged his shoulders.

**"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."**

**"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.**

"Not likely."

**The camper snorted.**

**Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!**

Aphrodite frowned. She said, "Hermes, call your boy off, he's too much."

"No no, he needs this!" Ares interjected.

**By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.**

**Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.**

Everyone wondered at that.

**"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."**

**Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.**

Everyone chuckled at that.

**The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. **

"Yeah, get ready punk!" Ares called out. Aphrodite pinched him on the arm.

**He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.\**

"Good lesson," Ares and Athena both said.

**"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."**

**He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.]\**

"Of course."

**"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"**

**I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. **

Poseidon tried to suppress a smile.

_Go get him, son_

**I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.**

**The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right.**

_Oh no!_ Poseidon thought.

**I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?**

**I tried the disarming maneuver.**

**My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.**

**Clang.**

**Luke's sword rattled against the stones.**

Everyone except Hermes cheered.

**The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.**

**The other campers were silent.**

**I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."**

"There's no need to be sorry for that. You're learning," Poseidon told the book.

**For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.**

**"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"**

"See? I told you," Poseidon said, chuckling.

**I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.**

**This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.**

**After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"**

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at that.

**Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."**

"He could whip some ass, that's what!" Helios exclaimed, laughing.

"Yeah, but he's still no match for Clarisse and the boys!" Ares challenged.

"He will be if they make the mistake of dunking him in the creek," Rhode said.

"Awww, you just got told!" Hermes laughed at Ares.

"Shut up!" he answered angrily. He couldn't deny that that would pose a very serious problem.

**Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.**

"What?" Hades called out. "I don't want you yet, boy!"

"He doesn't seem so bad dear," Persephone said, smiling sweetly.

"Hush," Hades responded.

**Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.**

"Hehe. You're not escaping the wall too easy, brat," Dionysus mocked.

**We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.**

"There's some good news," Demeter said sarcastically.

"Knowing him, not very well at all," Dionysus retorted.

"You'd best start going easy on the satyr Dionysus, or I'll be sure to make your immortal existance very unpleasant," Artemis warned.

"Oh I'm really scared," he responded.

Artemis just notched an arrow to her bow and took dead aim at her target.

"Ok ok! T-take it easy!" Dionysus whimpered, cowering behind his throne.

"Good," Artemis said firmly, lowering her bow.

Everyone just laughed as the god wine took his seat.

**His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.**

**"Fine," he said. "Just great."**

**"So your career's still on track?"**

"Not likely."

**He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"**

**"Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.**

"It wouldn't," Hestia said.

**"He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**

"After what happened with you getting him there? Most likely not, unless I start getting soft within the next few years," Dionysus scoffed.

Artemis glared at him.

**Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."**

"That would work," Dionysus said.

**My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"**

**"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"**

"Awww!" all the goddesses cooed.

"He's being too hard on himself," Poseidon said.

"I agree," Helios stated. "He could never have predicted the troubles that he and Percy would get into."

**"Of course I'd want you along!"**

"Awww!" the goddesses cooed again.

**Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."**

"Yes it is," Demeter said.

**I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.**

"Oh crap, why did he have to bring that up?" Hades asked agitated.

"Here we go again," Hestia sighed.

**"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."**

"Well of course I would be! I am one of the Olympians after all!" Artemis exclaimed.

Everyone just rolled their eyes.

**"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"**

"No, one of them is mine you dimwit," Hera snapped.

**Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. **

Hera nodded.

**"That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals.**

**That's her husband's job. **

Everyone laughed their heads off as Zeus sat in his throne fuming.

"Remind me to send that satyr to Tartarus when this is over," he commanded to no one in particular.

"Man Zeus," Helios said laughing. "They really must love you down there."

"Shut up!" he snapped.

This just sent all the immortals, except for Zeus, into more hysterics.

**When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."**

**"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**

**"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."**

"Yes. That was the deal," Hestia commented.

**"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."**

"Don't remind me," Hades said sulkily.

**"Uh-huh."**

**"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."**

**"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."**

**"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"**

**Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably.**

**"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes.**

**Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."**

Thunder boomed outside.

**Thunder boomed.**

**I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."**

**Grover nodded.**

**"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"**

"I did, but someone _else_," Hades said menacingly while looking from Zeus to Poseidon, "did not."

**Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.**

"Shut up satyr," Zeus warned darkly.

**There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—**

"Shut Up Satyr," Zeus warned again, raising his voice.

**he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia... **

"SHUT UP SATYR!" Zeus boomed at the book.

"Hey you know it's a book, right?" Poseidon asked jokingly.

"You shut up too!" Zeus snapped at him.

**well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."**

Zeus sat there fuming, glaring at his eldest brother.

**"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault."**

"That's right!" he boomed.

**Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. **

"Damn right I wasn't!" Hades exclaimed.

**Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. **

Zeus glared at Hades even more.

**A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do.**

**He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."**

"No…no!" Zeus cried.

**He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. **

Hades cowered in his throne from the glare Zeus was giving him.

**They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. **

A tear came to Zeus's eye.

**She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. **

"That's my girl," Zeus said weakly.

**The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died,**

Tears were streaming down Zeus's face, but while everyone else tried to comfort him, Hera and Hades simply scoffed at him.

**Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."**

**I stared at the pine in the distance.**

**The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. **

"Yes," Zeus commented.

**She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much.**

"Not when compared to that," Athena said.

**I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?**

"Probably not Percy," Helios said, frowning. "If you hadn't done what you did, both of you would probably be dead."

**"Grover," I said, "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**

**"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."**

**"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**

**"No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking—"**

**"No," I lied.**

"Liar," Athena scolded.

**"I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"**

**Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. **

"Sometimes that doesn't even work out," Dionysus mocked.

Dionysus stopped when Artemis notched an arrow to her bow and pointed it straight at him with a menacing look.

"Ok ok! I'm sorry!" Dionysus said hurriedly, putting his hands up.

"Of course you are," Artemis said, putting the arrow away.

**If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."**

"Ain't that the truth?" Dionysus laughed.

**"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."**

**Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were—you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. **

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again, you are not my child," Hermes said.

_No, you're mine…_ Poseidon thought.

**Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"**

**I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.**

**That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.**

**At last, it was time for capture the flag.**

"Yeah!" Ares pumped his fists in the air.

"Here we go," everyone else said.

**When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.**

**Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. **

Athena smiled.

"Strategize children, and you shall do well," she stated.

**From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.**

"Go kick some ass!" Ares cried.

Everyone just glared at him.

**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"**

"No."

**"Not always," he said. "But often."**

**"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"**

Everyone chukled at that. This boy sure had a lot to learn.

**He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."**

**"Whose side are we on?"**

**He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."**

Helios turned to Hermes and said, smiling,"I don't like the way he said that, Hermes."

"What?" he answered, grinning back. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Nobody believed him.

**The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.**

"Smart move children," Athena said. "Now you have numbers, deception, and archery."

"Booyah!" Hermes and Apollo both cried.

**Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.**

**Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. **

"I'll consider that a compliment," Dionysus said.

**Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. **

"Hey! My kids can be aggressive when they need to be!" Demeter shouted, insulted.

Helios, Hermes and Apollo tried but couldn't hide their laughter.

"Your kids are going down!" Demeter said menacingly, eyeing Hermes and Apollo.

"And YOU!" she turned to face Helios, "You had best start sleeping with one eye open!"

**Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.**

"What did he say?" Aphrodite asked with fire in her eyes.

"Easy Aphrodite," Helios said smiling. "Calm down."

"I'm keeping my eye on that one," she said darkly.

**Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.**

"Real smart kid. You don't want to mess with the guys with the best weapons!" Hephaestus exclaimed.

**That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**

"Yeah!" Ares cheered, pumping his fists in the air.

**Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.**

**"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"**

**He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.**

**"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?"**

That just made everyone laugh so hard some of them fell off their thrones.

"That's too funny!" Apollo gasped.

"We don't try to keep demigods away from Hades!" Zeus said laughing.

"Yes demigods, come to Uncle Hades! MWAAHAAHAAHAA!" the god of the Underworld laughed manically.

Everyone then stopped laughing and stared at Hades as if he had grown a second head.

"Ok that was weird," Helios said.

**Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."**

**My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, **

Everyone chuckled at that.

**with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. **

"You can't run fast anyway, remember?" Dionysus spat.

Hestia smacked him on the back of the head.

"OW!" he yelled.

"Shut up," Hestia said.

**My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.**

**Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"**

**We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.**

**I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. **

"Like that's supposed to be impressive?" Athena mocked.

"Awww! Percy was trying to impress her!" Aphrodite cooed.

"Shut your mouth Aphrodite before I shut it for you!" Athena threatened.

Aphrodite pouted but said nothing.

**"Hey."**

**She kept marching.**

**"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"**

"Idiot," Athena spat.

"You gotta be prepared beforehand punk," Ares said.

**Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.**

Everyone laughed at that.

**Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"**

**"Border patrol, whatever that means."**

**"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."**

"I don't like the way that sounded Athena," Helios said smiling.

"What? I do!" she defended.

Helios, Hermes and Apollo kept on laughing.

**She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.**

**"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."**

"Awww," all the goddesses except Athena pouted.

**It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.**

"That's your daughter's plan, O goddess of wisdom?" Helios asked Athena sarcastically. "To just leave him there by himself?"

"Hold on a minute you dunderhead," Athena defended. "She's obviously got something up her sleeve."

**Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.**

"To bad punk!" Ares called out. "You're up the creek without a paddle now! HAHAHAHA!"

Both Helios and Poseidon looked at him strangely.

"The game's not over yet Ares," Helios said smiling wickedly.

"He'll get out of this," Poseidon added.

They winked at each other discreetly.

**There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?**

That made some of them laugh so hard they held their sides.

"I'm afraid not, sport!" Helios said laughing.

"Athena, are we liable for them?" Hestia asked.

"Oh let me check. Umm…no," Athena answered.

That just sent them into more hysterics.

**Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.**

**Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.**

"Oh I'm sure you'll be fine in that area," Ares said. "After the way you humiliated Clarisse, you have a bulls-eye on your back!"

"I'm afraid so," Rhode said.

**Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.**

"What in Hades could that be?" Apollo asked.

"Don't look at me," Hades defended.

"You're the one who wants everybody dead, Corpse Brain!" Hestia said.

"Not everyone!" Persephone exclaimed. "All mortals have their time on earth."

"However, it sounds like his is about to expire," Hephaestus commented.

"Besides, how do we know that it's not just another monster they've got stocked in the woods, hmm?" Hades continued.

"Touche," Rhode said.

**I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.**

**Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.**

"I stand corrected," Hephaestus said.

**On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.**

**"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.**

"Yeah, cream the punk!" Ares cheered.

**Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made me feel any better.**

"It's not supposed to, moron!" Ares and Hephaestus said in unison, laughing.

Everyone else glared at them.

**They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.**

**I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur.**

Ares just grinned smugly at that.

**They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb, and the air burned.**

"Nice move Clarisse," Ares said smugly.

**Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric. I fell back.**

"Hey! That spear is not stupid!" Ares exclaimed.

**Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.** **They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**

**"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."**

**I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.**

**"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."**

"Good one!" Ares laughed manically.

_You should be…_ Poseidon thought.

**"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid it didn't come out that way.**

"Never give away the objective, you idiot!" Athena screamed.

**"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."**

"See? I told you so!" Ares said smiling.

**"You do that without my help," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.**

**Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, **

_Uh-oh, almost there_ Poseidon thought, smiling to himself.

**tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-kebabbed. **

"Shish-kebabbed demigod would not be very good," Apollo said.

Artemis looked at everyone, Rhode and Amphritite in particular, and said, "I am so sorry I have an idiot brother."

"You love me just the same, and you know it!" Apollo said jokingly.

Artemis growled at her brother but said nothing.

**As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.**

Both Ares and Hades began laughing manically.

Everyone looked at them strangely.

**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time.**

**"No maiming," I managed to say.**

"That's the best line he could come up with?" Hades asked.

"It is because he's a dimwit," Artemis said.

Amphritite looked at Poseidon in shock.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing," she whispered to him. "Is this how they treat all demigods?"

"Some demigods, yes," he answered. "They've been going on like that on this one kid since we began reading yesterday."

"Absolutely terrible," she growled.

**"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."**

"Hahahaha! Good one, son!" Ares laughed, keeled over.

"That's not funny," Helios, Poseidon, Rhode and Amphritite said.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

**He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash.**

_Hehe, here we go…time to open a can of Grade A whup-ass!_ Poseidon thought.

**They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans.**

"Uh-oh Ares," Helios said beaming. "Looks like your kids are about to get whipped."

"No way in Hades that's gonna happen," Ares answered confidently.

"We'll see about that," Hestia commented.

**Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.**

"Booyah! In your face!" Apollo cheered.

"He was weak anyway! That means nothing!" Ares growled menacingly.

Apollo decided then would be a good time to run and hide behind Zeus.

"Don't think I can't come back there," Ares warned.

"No you can't," Zeus shot back, his bolt forming in his grip.

Ares decided not to bother Apollo right then.

"Go back to your seat," Zeus told Apollo.

"Ok," Apollo said, pouting like a child.

"Wuss," Ares shot.

"Shut up," Apollo answered.

"ENOUGH!" Zeus bellowed.

The incident was then over.

**Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three**

Nobody except Ares could help but laugh at that.

"That's a good one!" Hermes said between gasps.

Even Athena couldn't manage to hide a smile.

**came at me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.**

At that instant, one of the torches burst with green flame.

"Any objections?" Helios asked.

There were none.

"Athena?" he asked.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Actually…no. That was quite impressive, destroying his enemy's weapon," she said.

"Ares even you have to admit that was a pretty smooth move," Rhode said.

"Yeah I guess so," he answered sulkily.

**"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"**

Everyone laughed at that, especially Hades who commented, "Hey at least she wasn't talking about me. Unlike some other people I could mention."

**She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.**

"Damn it!" Ares grunted.

Helios smiled. He was actually kind of enjoying watching Ares.

**Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.**

"DAMN DAMN DAMN!" Ares cursed, pounding the armrests on his throne.

**"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."**

"Of course it was. Nice strategy children," Athena commented, grinning proudly.

"See how far planning gets you, Ares?" Athena asked mockingly.

"Shut up," he told her.

**They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.**

**The game was over. We'd won.**

Everyone except Ares and Hephaestus cheered.

Those two just sulked.

**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."**

**I looked, but she wasn't there.**

**"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.**

"That cap must have come in handy," Athena said.

**I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."**

**Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."**

**"A plan to get me pulverized."**

**"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."**

"True."

**Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"**

"Cut by a sword," Apollo said.

**"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"**

**"No. It **_**was **_**a sword cut. Look at it."**

"What does that mean?" Apollo asked.

"I guess we'll find out in a minute, now will you please shut up?" Artemis spat.

"Fine," Apollo pouted.

**The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.**

**"I—I don't get it," I said.**

**Annabeth was thinking hard.**

**I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."**

**"What—"**

"Don't ask questions, just do it!" Athena spat.

**"Just do it."**

"Fool."

Poseidon, Amphritite, Rhode and Helios glared at her.

"What?" she asked.

**I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.**

**"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is **_**not **_**good. I didn't want... I assumed it would be Zeus..."**

"Not good man," Hermes said.

"What? How dare she assume it was me!" Zeus boomed.

"Well," Hera answered. "You do have a tendency to lose control of yourself, and on top of that, you went and had that girl with that damn _mortal_!"

"That is none of your business!" Zeus defended.

"Hey, hey hey!" Helios called out over the noise, his hands in the air.

"Calm down. Now, for the sake of everyone here, would you both please continue this some other time?" he asked.

"Fine," Hera and Zeus both said, but neither would look at the other.

**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.**

Everyone was silent.

**The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "**_**Stand ready**_**!**_** My bow**_**!"**

"Greek should be getting easier to understand by now," Athena said irritated.

**Annabeth drew her sword.**

**There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.**

Poseidon held his breath.

**It was looking straight at me.**

_Oh shit! Son…RUN!_

**Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"**

"Listen to my daughter you idiot!" Athena screamed.

"Percy run!" Amphritite, Hestia, Rhode and Persephone called out.

**She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor,**

All the goddesses squealled

**there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.**

Everyone let out a heavy sigh of relief, especially Poseidon and Athena.

**By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.**

"Awww," Hades and Ares said in unison. This earned them a pinch on the arm from Aphrodite and Persephone respectively.

**Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.**

_**"Di immortales!"**_ **Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to..."**

Everyone instantly turned to the lord of the Underworld.

"What? I certainly didn't do it!" Hades defended.

"That is a demon from the Fields of Punishment. Of course it was you!" Hera exclaimed.

Helios interjected, "Hold on, hold on, maybe it will tell later on who summoned it and under whose orders."

**"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."**

**Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.**

"It's ok Luke. There will be more times," Hermes said reassuringly.

**Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"**

**"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.**

"Yeah bitch, shut up!" Helios laughed maniacally.

"Helios, do you have a death wish?" Ares asked darkly.

"Do you?" he answered.

Ares was so taken aback by that statement that he didn't know what to say.

**We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.**

"Aww," Hades sulked. Persephone kissed him on the cheek and patted him on the shoulder.

**"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."**

**"I'm okay."**

"No you're not."

**"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."**

**I was too tired to argue.**

"Don't argue with my daughter. You know you won't win," Athena said.

**I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.**

**Instantly, I felt better.**

"See?" she said to no one in particular.

**I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.**

**"Look, I—I don't know why," I said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."**

**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.**

"Finally, he's claimed!" Amphritite cheered. Everyone else became really nervous really quick. They knew what was about to happen.

_This is _not_ going to be good…_

**"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."**

**By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.**

"WHAT?" Amphritite screamed.

**"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is **_**really **_**not good."**

"Right you are daughter," Athena said.

"Not good at all," Zeus said darkly, glaring at Poseidon.

**"It is determined," Chiron announced.**

**All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.**

"I'm not too thrilled about it either!" Ares exclaimed angrily.

This just made everyone besides Amphritite laugh their heads off.

**"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.**

**"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."**

Amphritite glared angrily at Poseidon. "What...in the HELL...did you DO?" she screamed at him. She began walking towards him, very slowly and yet very deliberately, which made everyone uneasy.

The god of the sea became extremely pale and slowly got up from his throne.  
>"I-"<br>But as he was beginning to speak, Amphritite lunged at him with both hands going for his throat.  
>Both of them crashed to the floor as Amphritite pinned her husband down, screaming the most horrible obscenities anyone had ever heard. Within a few seconds of her initial outburst, almost all the gods and goddesses scrambled to pry her off of Poseidon. Everyone that is, except Ares, who seemed to be enjoying the scene quite well.<br>"KILL! KILL! KILL!" he cheered, but as soon as Amphritite turned and he saw the intense loathing in her eyes, Ares began to pity his uncle and immediately sat down and shut up.  
>Zeus boomed over the commotion, "SILENCE!" After everyone, including Amphritite, had settled down, Zeus continued.<p>

"Amphritite although I understand your reasoning for this outburst, as the boy should never have been born in the first place," he glared at Poseidon when he said that. "I do forbid you from doing permenent harm to your husband. Now, go back to your palace. You may join us again when you have composed yourself."

With one last evil look at Poseidon, she disappeared in an ocean wave, which soaked Poseidon from head to toe.

"Dad you're busted," Rhode said.

Helios nodded gravely.

"Yes I know dear," Poseidon responded weakly.

"What should we do?" Persephone asked. "Do you want to continue without Amphritite or wait until her return?"

"She'll probably be a while," Hades said.

"Yeah. Let's continue so we can get this over with," Dionysus agreed.

"Anyone object?" Helios asked.

Nobody responded.

"Ok then," he stated.

"I'll read if anyone wants," Persephone said sweetly.

"Ok," Poseidon said, quickly handing her the book.

She opened the book, turned to the right page, and began to read.

**So how was it? What did you all think of Amphritite's psychotic episode? Again, I'm really sorry about it taking so long! It came out to over 8,000 words! Please review and tell me what you think! Reviews are gold!**


	11. AN

A/N VERY IMPORTANT!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long guys. I've been battling a stomach bug for a while, but I'll get the new chapter up as soon as I possibly can. Please forgive me.


	12. Chapter 9

**Here we are again! I'm all better now, so it's time for the next chapter! I am so very sorry it took so long! I hope you guys won't stop reading. I would absolutely love it if you guys would read and review. Also, just as a disclaimer because I have to: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

"**I Am Offered a Quest**" Persephone began.

**The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.**

**I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.**

"That sounds so totally awesome!" Apollo, Helios and Hermes cried.

**And I was absolutely miserable.**

"Oh, sorry," they said.

**Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease.**

"I'm so sorry son," Poseidon said, a tear rolling down his cheek.

**Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back.**

"Of course they would! It was a HELLHOUND for crying out loud!" Artemis spat.

"Shut up!" Hestia snapped.

"What?"

"Don't you have any sensitivity? He's miserable right now," Hestia answered.

"Oh," Artemis said pouting.

**The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one; that I was the son of the Sea God;**

"Obviously," Poseidon murmured.

**and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.**

"That would be kind of scary, wouldn't it?" Hermes asked.

Some of them agreed.

**The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. **

**Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods,**

"Wusses," Ares mumbled.

"They're your kids," Aphrodite told him.

"Which is why they should have been able to beat that kid no problem," he snapped angrily.

**so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.**

**"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."**

"Luke's working him awfully hard, isn't he?" Rhode asked, worried.

"Well honey, you have to remember that he needs all the training he can get," Helios answered.

"Yeah, I guess so," she conceded.

"And who better to train him than the best swordsman in three-hundred years?" Hermes added. "Besides, he wouldn't really hurt him too bad."

**Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes.**

"Stupid sea spawn," Athena grumbled.

**After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan …"**

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hermes laughed hysterically.

"What?" Athena asked, confused.

"Your daughter and her plans," he said.

**Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.**

The gods and goddesses all agreed.

**I knew somebody at camp resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the Metro page. The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page.**

"What is it?" Apollo asked excitedly.

"We would know if you would shut up!" Artemis snarled.

"Ok ok, sheesh," Apollo conceded, hurt.

**BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**

**BY EILEEN SMYTHE**

_**Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken.**_

_**The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.**_

_**Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.**_

_**Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.**__**Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following to**_

_**toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.**_

"That monster! If I ever get my hands on him…" Poseidon snarled, reaching out his hands like he was strangling someone.

"Easy, grasshopper," Helios told him. "They're out of his reach now. He can't hurt them anymore."

Poseidon seemed to regain his composure.

**The phone number was circled in black marker.**

**I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin.**

**"Lights out," I told myself miserably. **

**That night, I had my worst dream yet.**

"Oh no," Poseidon said miserably.

**I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.**

"Why is he dreaming of Los Angeles?" Apollo asked.

"Maybe it has something to do with Hades," Hephaestus said.

"Oh my gods! Why is everyone blaming me?" Hades exclaimed.

"Well, let's see," Helios counted on his fingers. "You want Percy dead for one thing. Second, a hellhound attacked him in the woods. Third, he's dreaming of Los Angeles, where the entrance to YOUR domain is located."

"That doesn't prove a damn thing!" Hades spat.

"We'll see," Helios responded.

**About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, **

"They're called togas," Athena corrected.

**one trimmed in blue, the other in green. **

Everyone turned and stared at Zeus and Poseidon.

"What?" the both replied.

**They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.**

**I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.**

**Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, **_**Give it back! Give it back!**_** Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.**

Everyone laughed.

"Awww," Ares mocked. "Will Poseidon not give widdle Zeusy back his toy?"

"It's my master bolt, you idiot!" Zeus shot.

**The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.**

**I yelled, **_**Stop it! Stop fighting!**_

**The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice.**

_**Come down, little hero**_**, the voice crooned. **_**Come down!**_

"You sure that's not you, Hades?" Helios asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I'm certain, dammit!" the god of the Underworld snarled.

**The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.**

**I woke up, sure I was falling.**

**I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.**

**I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.**

**"Come in?"**

**Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you."**

**"Why?"**

**"He wants to kill... I mean, I'd better let him tell you."**

"HE HAD BETTER NOT!" Poseidon boomed.

**Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.**

"Well obviously not," Apollo said.

**For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive.**

Both Zeus and Hades growled at Poseidon.

**The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.**

"Hmph," Dionysus snorted.

**Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.**

**"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."**

**I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"**

**He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."**

"Not with those two fighting the way they are," Rhode said, pointing to Zeus and Poseidon.

Demeter agreed and looked down sadly, thinking of all the strawberries that would be ruined.

**I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.**

**But this storm ... this one was huge.**

"Dun, dun, dun," Apollo teased.

**At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.**

"Yeah, cause it's not supposed to be there!" Demeter huffed.

"Shut it," Zeus warned.

**Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel chair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air.**

**"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."**

Everyone laughed at that, but Dionysus just shrugged his shoulders.

**I waited.**

**"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to bow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."**

"Barnacle-Beard? Really?" Poseidon asked with his arms crossed.

"I think that's earned him a Grade-A ass-kicking," Helios said smiling, pointing to the wine god. "What do you think?"

"I must agree with you there, son in-law!" Poseidon answered, laughing manically.

Dionysus didn't like the look in their eyes.

"I…uh…er…I was just kidding! Please have mercy!" he begged.

They both got up and walked slowly towards him.

"Rhode…help me out here!" Dionysus called out.

She answered smiling, "Sorry, it's out of my hands."

When they got his throne and were looking down upon him with creepy smiles on their faces, the god of wine fainted.

"What a wimp," Ares said disgustedly.

"I think we can all agree on that one," Artemis said.

**A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.**

**"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.**

Zeus just rolled his eyes.

**Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.**

**"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. **

"I'm warning you now Dionysus. If you do, you will regret it," Poseidon told him.

**But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."**

**"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.**

"True. I should know cause I'm the god of fire after all," Hephaestus said proudly.

Some of them just looked at him strangely.

**"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."**

"I'd just change him back and send him back to you," Poseidon teased.

Dionysus huffed his annoyance.

**"Mr. D—" Chiron warned.**

**"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."**

"It couldn't be that bad," Apollo said.

"Oh yes it could," Athena responded.

**Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.**

**He snapped his fingers.**

**The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.**

**Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."**

**We did.**

**Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.**

**"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"**

**Just hearing the name made me shudder.**

**Chiron probably wanted me to say, **_**Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast.**_

**But I didn't feel like lying.**

**"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."**

**"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."**

**"Done ... with what?"**

**"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"**

**I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.**

**"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."**

**Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."**

**Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.**

**"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"**

**Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.**

**Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"**

**My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft.**

**And ... I've also been having these dreams."**

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.**

**"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"**

**"Only the Oracle can determine."**

**Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."**

**I laughed nervously. "A what?"**

**"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."**

**"Oh."**

**"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."**

**"And it's missing?"**

**"Stolen," Chiron said.**

**"By who?"**

**"By whom," Chiron corrected.**

**Once a teacher, always a teacher.**

**"By you."**

**My mouth fell open.**

**"At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. **

**The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' etcetera.**

"That's because they are!" Zeus exclaimed.

"Are not!" Poseidon responded.

Are too!"

"Oh gods, don't start this crap, please!" Hera called out, covering her ears.

"You both act like children!" she added.

They both looked at her strangely but stopped nonetheless.

**Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon.**

"Explain to me again why you always blame me," Poseidon said.

"Because you tried to topple me from my throne before," Zeus said.

"You wanna know who's idea it was to chain you up? I suggest you talk to your wife over there," Poseidon responded.

"Don't bring me into this. I won't have anything of it!" Hera exclaimed.

"Hey you started it!" Poseidon pointed out.

"Could we all just settle down?" Rhode asked calmly.

"Please?" Helios added.

They all calmed down.

"Thank you," they said in unison.

**Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."**

**"But I didn't—"**

**"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. **

"Yes I do!" Zeus exclaimed.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

**The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne.**

"You know, that actually makes a lot of sense," Zeus commented darkly, glaring at his brother.

"Don't even start that crap!" Poseidon shot back.

**The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."**

**"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"**

"WHOA!" Apollo exclaimed.

"WRONG ANSWER BUDDY!" Hermes added frantically.

"Goodbye, Sea Spawn!" Athena waved.

Zeus was fuming. "HOW DARE HE? I am king of the gods! Where is my master bolt? I'll blast him to pieces!" Zeus rose from his throne with his bolt in his grasp when Helios and several other deities held him back.

"Let me go!" the Lord of the Sky boomed.

"He's just a kid!" Rhode cried. "He doesn't know what he's saying!"

Zeus looked at Rhode with tears in her eyes, and slowly sat back down.

"Alright, I'll give him another chance," he conceded.

"Oh good!" she cried and gave him a big hug.

**Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.**

**"Er, Percy ...?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."**

"That's right!"

**"Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam..." He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight.**

"I probably wouldn't remember question thirty-eight on my final exam either," Helios said.

"You've never had a final exam in your life!" Rhode exclaimed jokingly.

**How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted. Chiron was waiting for an answer.**

"Come on," Athena said. "Show Chiron you paid attention in class."

**"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods ... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"**

"Ah! He actually got that one right!" Athena said excitedly.

Poseidon just glared at her.

"What? It was a compliment," she said.

**"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since.**

"Of course not," Zeus said darkly, looking over at his brother.

**Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation.**

"Of course I would, because I didn't take it!" Poseidon exclaimed.

"Neither did I!" Hades added.

"Well, if you didn't then who did?" Zeus shot back.

"We don't know yet," Helios cut in. "Now maybe could we all just settle down and see who it is? I'm sure it will be revealed soon."

"Fine," Zeus said. "But I still think its Barnacle Beard over there." Poseidon just rolled his eyes.

**The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."**

**"But I'm just a kid!"**

"I'm afraid that really doesn't matter," Hera commented.

**"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"**

Everyone laughed at the analogy.

**"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"**

**Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. **

"Yeah Zeus!" Poseidon called out.

**But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. **

"Hey!" Poseidon looked dumbfounded.

Everyone chuckled at that.

**Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. **

"Yeah girls, do something!" Apollo, Hermes and Helios all said.

"Apparently this is out of our hands," Demeter answered.

"They do seem more frazzled than usual," Hestia said.

Hera just nodded.

**But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"**

**"Bad?" I guessed.**

"The understatement of the century pal," Helios said.

Everyone just groaned at the thought.

**"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."**

**"Bad," I repeated.**

**"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."**

"No kidding."

**It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.**

**I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. I was furious.**

**"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus."**

**"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"**

**"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"**

**"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."**

"Yay! It's time for the Oracle!" Apollo cheered.

**"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"**

**"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."**

**I swallowed. "Good reason."**

Everyone chuckled at that.

**"You agree then?"**

**I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.**

**Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.**

Everyone except Poseidon couldn't help but laugh at that.

**"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."**

"Ain't that the truth?" Hermes said laughing.

**"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."**

"That's a big if," Hephaestus said.

**Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap door.**

**I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.**

**The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.**

**I held my breath and climbed.**

**The attic was filled with Greek hero junk:**

"Greek hero junk!" Hermes and Apollo laughed.

Everyone else tried to hide a smile.

**armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things—severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.**

All the deities except for Helios, Rhode, Hades and Persephone began to think back on those memories of their children.

**By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy.**

**Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.**

"I bet she was a hippy," Helios said, grinning.

"Duh."

"She really shouldn't be a mummy," Apollo said, worried. "I wonder what happened to her?"

"I'm sure it will tell in time, old friend," Helios told him, patting him on the shoulder. "When it does, we'll find a way to fix it."

"Ok," he conceded.

**Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. **

"I must admit, that does seem a little creepy," Apollo admitted.

"Everything scares you, dunderhead," Artemis mocked.

"Does not!" he shot.

"Does too!" she exclaimed.

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Will you both please shut up? You're giving me a headache!" Hephaestus exclaimed.

"Fine," Artemis said coolly.

Apollo just stuck his tongue out at her.

**I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap door, but it slammed shut.**

**Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: **_**I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.**_

**I wanted to say, No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom. **

"Poseidon how can your son take every situation so lightly?" Athena asked.

"He got it from me," he answered smiling.

Athena didn't know what to say after that.

Everyone just laughed at that.

**But I forced myself to take a deep breath.**

**The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely not human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either..**

"No," Apollo said. "The Oracle wouldn't hurt you. There's really no need to worry."

**I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"**

**The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.**

Poseidon just growled and clenched his fists.

**My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.**

**Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: **_**You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.**_

_Why does this seem familiar?_ Helios thought.

"Hades," everyone said.

"SHUT UP!"

**His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: **_**You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.**_

"Great!" Zeus and Hera both cheered.

**The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: **_**You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.**_

"What?" Poseidon asked frantically.

"Alright Hades, who are you gonna get to try and kill our little brother?" Helios said pointing to himself and Rhode. His signature smile was gone.

"AND MY SON!" Poseidon shot.

"For the last time, I-am-NOT-doing-that!" Hades responded, putting emphasis on each word.

Nobody except Persephone seemed overly convinced.

**Finally, Eddie, our building superior, delivered the worst line of all: **_**And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.**_

"Oh no," Helios, Rhode and Poseidon moaned.

"That's not good," Hestia said weakly.

"Not good at all," Demeter agreed.

"Why does it have to seem so hopeless?" Aphrodite asked.

"It's a quest. It always does," Hephaestus answered.

**The figures began to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"**

"It's no use. You've gotten all you're gonna get," Apollo said sadly.

"It seems like I've read that prophecy before," Helios said, scratching his head in confusion.

"Huh? How can you know?" Apollo asked.

"Apollo, I may have given you a lot of my possessions, but I kept the Tablets of Phanes buddy," Helios said smiling.

"_Di Immortales!_ I've been looking everywhere for those things!" Apollo said, shocked.

"What are those again?" Demeter asked.

Helios answered, "All the prophesies of the past, present, and future were written down by Phanes at the dawn of time. I have the tablets he wrote them on."

**The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.**

**I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cob webs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.**

Everyone laughed at that.

**My audience with the Oracle was over.**

"Duh."

**"Well?" Chiron asked me.**

**I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."**

**Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"**

"Yeah, I agree!" Zeus said excitedly.

**"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."**

**My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She ... she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."**

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"**

**I didn't want to tell him.**

**What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.**

**And the last line—I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, **_**Oh, by the way, you'll fail.**_

**How could I confess that?**

"Don't lie to Chiron. It'll be a lot better for you," Hestia said.

**"No," I said. "That's about it."**

"Liar," Artemis spat.

"Lying little brat. Should just get rid of him, as far as I'm concerned," Dionysus shot.

Almost everyone glared at him.

**He studied my face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."**

"That is true," Hermes commented.

**I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.**

"He was never too good at that," Hermes said.

**"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"**

**"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"**

**"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.**

**"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."**

"Damn you, cursed centaur!" Hades shouted. "IT'S NOT ME!"

**I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades."**

**Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."**

"Bullcrap!" Hades rose from his throne. Persephone tried to calm him down. "Honey, please sit down. The truth will be known."

"Yeah, justice always prevails in the end," Helios added.

**A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"**

**"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."**

**"Yes, but—but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon..."**

"That's true," Hades conceded.

**"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued.**

**"Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. **

"It doesn't necessarily have to be from me!" the Lord of the Underworld pouted.

**He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."**

"You will regret it if you even touch him brother," Poseidon told him darkly.

"Poseidon, I may not particularly love your son, but I definitely don't want a war. I can't keep up with the dead there are now!"

"That's right!" Persephone defended. "Because of all the wars of the 20th. century, we can't handle the influx of souls."

**"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."**

**"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."**

Everyone laughed at that.

**"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."**

"Sure, you can have the truth. The truth is I DIDN"T DO IT!"

**A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed.**

"We know you sent the monsters after him, but why did you take his mother?" Aphrodite asked sadly.

"Honestly I have no idea," Hades answered.

**I was ready to take him on.**

This made all the gods and goddesses laugh so hard some of them fell off their thrones.

"I'd like to see you try, nephew!" Hades said laughing manically.

"I'll kill you first!" Poseidon exclaimed, jumping up and glaring daggers at Hades.

"Yeah! This oughta be fun!" Ares said.

Thunder boomed. Zeus shouted, "SILENCE! I will not tolerate this stupid crap! Now sit both your asses down right NOW!"

They both returned to their thrones, but Helios whispered to Poseidon, "Likes to use his muscle, don't he?"

"What was that?" Zeus asked darkly.

"Nothing," Helios said grinning.

**Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld…**

**Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.**

"Best to listen to your reason, boy," Hades said.

**Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.**

**The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide.**

"Awww, how sweet!" all the goddesses cooed.

**"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."**

"I wish we could son, but that's not how it goes," Poseidon said.

Hades just glared at his brother.

**"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does—**

"Very true," Poseidon commented.

**they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. **

"I hate that rule!" Zeus and Poseidon both said.

**That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"**

**"You're saying I'm being used."**

"Yep," Ares said casually.

Aphrodite glared daggers at him.

"What?" he asked. "I'm just being truthful."

**"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."**

**My dad needs me.**

**Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me.**

Poseidon looked heartbroken. "I visited you once, son. You were just too young to remember."

**I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"**

**"I had my suspicions. As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."**

**I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.**

"You don't wanna know yet slick," Helios said frowning.

**"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."**

Hades just rolled his eyes at that.

**"Check," Chiron said.**

**"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."**

**"Check."**

**"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."**

**"That's about right."**

**I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.**

Everyone laughed at that.

**"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.**

This made some of the gods laugh so hard they clutched their sides.

**"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you."**

**"Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No... it's just that satyrs and underground places... well..."**

**He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."**

Awww! Poseidon, your son is so sweet!" all the goddesses cooed.

Poseidon just smiled softly at the thought of his son.

**I felt so relieved I wanted to cry, though I didn't think that would be very heroic.**

**Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with me.**

**"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."**

**"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."**

**"Where?"**

"Oh my gods Poseidon, doesn't your son know anything?" Athena snapped.

"Shut up."

**Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."**

**"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—"**

"PERCY!" Poseidon shouted. "What are you thinking?"

**"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking?**

"Wow, you and Grover think a lot alike," Dionysus joked.

**Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"**

"I'd like to see you try nephew! You step foot on a plane and you're toast!" Zeus cackled.

"You hurt him and I swear I'll strangle you!" Poseidon shot back.

"You can't kill me, brother, " Zeus said, rolling his eyes. "I'm a god remember?"

The Sea God was just standing up when Helios put his hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down," Helios told him. "Obviously Zeus won't kill him because there are four more books after this one. Percy will be alright."

"Ok," Poseidon muttered, but still took a sideways glance at his youngest brother.

**I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.**

**"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."**

"You got that right!" Zeus called out.

**Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.**

**"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland."**

**"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."**

"Hehe."

**"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"**

"Uhh…Annabeth?" Apollo teased.

Athena just glared at him.

**The air shimmered behind Chiron.**

**Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.**

**"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon,**

"Damn right," Athena snapped.

**but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."**

**"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?"**

"What's that supposed to mean?" Athena asked.

"It means your daughter is a know-it-all," Helios said smiling.

"You…you…" Athena said through gritted teeth as she raised her hands as if to choke him.

"Uh oh," Dionysus said sarcastically.

"What? I'm a _nice_ person," Helios said, looking at Athena with big puppy-dog eyes.

Athena shot him a warning look.

**Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"**

**The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get.**

Athena beamed proudly.

**"A trio," I said. "That'll work."**

Everyone chuckled at that.

**"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."**

**Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.**

**"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."**

"You all had best get to it indeed," Helios said.

"Yes! Give me my bolt back, damn it!" Zeus exclaimed.

"Alright who wants to read next?" Helios asked.

"I will," Hestia answered.

"Alright, here you go," Persephone told her, handing her the book.

"Wait a minute. There's something we need to do first," Helios decided.

With that, both he and Rhode went to Poseidon's undersea palace.

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	13. AN 2

AN: I'm so sorry that this story is taking so long, but school has been so hard this semester that I've hardly had any time to write! I have several really long papers due around the same time! I'll try to find time to write, but I'm not gonna be able to update for a while. Please forgive me!


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